Airplane noise concerns overblown?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow I'm just finding this thread!

Just moved to Kalorama (yes it is a lovely neighborhood and I am grateful) but I am finding the plane noise to be terrible on North flow days (when they are taking off in our direction) They thunder and echo through the sky from 6 am till near midnight, sometimes at a rate of every 90 seconds. I've waited 54 years to have a small outdoor space and now I can't enjoy it at all. Already thinking of moving.

You sound extra sensitive. I can’t imagine how the planes can be so loud in Kalorama when following the river path and now mostly flying much closer to the Virginia side.

They fly over residential areas of VA way inland from the river and they fly low, you would think airport is nearby when it's pretty far, not sure why they fly so low. There are flight paths that veer off from Potomac into residential parts of Arlington and Mclean and probably FC and Alexandria. When I am in DT Mclean I see they fly in lines over residential homes. I also see planes making turns over dense residential areas and this makes noise linger as planes fly in lines spaced by about a minute. These pathways aren't always utilized all day long, it got a bit better from 1-2 years ago when they would fly for hours every day. When I am in DC around river front they are way closer, but they aren't frequent.

I have opinions that in a densely populated metro it doesn't make sense to have a big airport right in the middle, this is what DCA is. You cannot successfully reduce noise and pollution without reducing number of flights and type of aircraft allowed to fly there, and there are going to be a lot of neighborhoods affected even if you disperse traffic in as many directions as you can. Focus should be on building/maintaining large airports outside of metro areas and creating dedicated toll roads to take people there quickly that wouldn't be used for other purposes. Train lines are also essential and DC has all this. But DCA really needs to be 1/3 of its current capacity and with smaller planes if DC metro residents desire to not deal with noise and pollution. With UAD and BWI airports relatively nearby there is no reason to have so many flights out of DCA.

Disagree completely. Having access to a nearby airport is great. Most people don't want to have to trek all of the way out to Dulles or BWI.

We have regular air traffic above us and it's no big deal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don't air traffic patterns change all the time though? After awhile you hardly even notice it. You can't have it all, a lovely home, in a great neighborhood, with great schools, and great neighbors, a home that appreciates at a steady rate, with no risk of flooding, and zero crime, AND no air traffic. You have to give something up.

No. They don't. There is essentially one runway at DCA, and planes can't fly over the White House, Capitol, etc.

So, no.

[Anonymous]

I live in n Arlington and when we sleep with windows open it is a sure thing that 6am you are hearing an airplane take off out of national. After a week or so of windows open you get used to it again.

We only have our windows open maybe 6 weeks out of the year at night so no big deal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't air traffic patterns change all the time though? After awhile you hardly even notice it. You can't have it all, a lovely home, in a great neighborhood, with great schools, and great neighbors, a home that appreciates at a steady rate, with no risk of flooding, and zero crime, AND no air traffic. You have to give something up.

No. They don't. There is essentially one runway at DCA, and planes can't fly over the White House, Capitol, etc.

So, no.

I dunno looks like the do https://simpleflying.com/faa-washington-air-traffic/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't air traffic patterns change all the time though? After awhile you hardly even notice it. You can't have it all, a lovely home, in a great neighborhood, with great schools, and great neighbors, a home that appreciates at a steady rate, with no risk of flooding, and zero crime, AND no air traffic. You have to give something up.

No. They don't. There is essentially one runway at DCA, and planes can't fly over the White House, Capitol, etc.

So, no.

I dunno looks like the do https://simpleflying.com/faa-washington-air-traffic/

This was a pretty minor change that redistributed the noise between already heavily affected areas. Since they did this there is a bit less noise over Georgetown and Foxhall and more over Virginia. The path still follows the river though and that is unlikely to change.

[Anonymous]

I love when I’m flying over you complainers comfortably in business class, looking down with an Old Fashioned, heartily laughing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow I'm just finding this thread!

Just moved to Kalorama (yes it is a lovely neighborhood and I am grateful) but I am finding the plane noise to be terrible on North flow days (when they are taking off in our direction) They thunder and echo through the sky from 6 am till near midnight, sometimes at a rate of every 90 seconds. I've waited 54 years to have a small outdoor space and now I can't enjoy it at all. Already thinking of moving.

You sound extra sensitive. I can’t imagine how the planes can be so loud in Kalorama when following the river path and now mostly flying much closer to the Virginia side.

Please ignore the PP. They are all like this on hear and will not stop complaining most bitterly on the restricted access local listserve

It’s real, it’s bad and it’s not worth it

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow I'm just finding this thread!

Just moved to Kalorama (yes it is a lovely neighborhood and I am grateful) but I am finding the plane noise to be terrible on North flow days (when they are taking off in our direction) They thunder and echo through the sky from 6 am till near midnight, sometimes at a rate of every 90 seconds. I've waited 54 years to have a small outdoor space and now I can't enjoy it at all. Already thinking of moving.

You sound extra sensitive. I can’t imagine how the planes can be so loud in Kalorama when following the river path and now mostly flying much closer to the Virginia side.

Please ignore the PP. They are all like this on hear and will not stop complaining most bitterly on the restricted access local listserve

It’s real, it’s bad and it’s not worth it

Not in Kalorama though…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don't air traffic patterns change all the time though? After awhile you hardly even notice it. You can't have it all, a lovely home, in a great neighborhood, with great schools, and great neighbors, a home that appreciates at a steady rate, with no risk of flooding, and zero crime, AND no air traffic. You have to give something up.

FAA bought NextGen software in 2014 or so and it concentrates all approaching air traffic over dense, even hilly residential areas, schools, parks, pools, homes instead of over the river like before.

All to save a couple minutes and gasoline bucks.

Many cities have outraged. But bethesda needs to speak up. The fake simulations were done on a computer, at River level. Not up on the hills by goldsboro or the homestead pumpkin patch or the elementary school roofs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow I'm just finding this thread!

Just moved to Kalorama (yes it is a lovely neighborhood and I am grateful) but I am finding the plane noise to be terrible on North flow days (when they are taking off in our direction) They thunder and echo through the sky from 6 am till near midnight, sometimes at a rate of every 90 seconds. I've waited 54 years to have a small outdoor space and now I can't enjoy it at all. Already thinking of moving.

You sound extra sensitive. I can’t imagine how the planes can be so loud in Kalorama when following the river path and now mostly flying much closer to the Virginia side.

They fly over residential areas of VA way inland from the river and they fly low, you would think airport is nearby when it's pretty far, not sure why they fly so low. There are flight paths that veer off from Potomac into residential parts of Arlington and Mclean and probably FC and Alexandria. When I am in DT Mclean I see they fly in lines over residential homes. I also see planes making turns over dense residential areas and this makes noise linger as planes fly in lines spaced by about a minute.

NP. I live in western part of McLean near Giant grocery, 4 miles away from the Potomac River. This part of town do not get plane noises because the DCA planes always follow the river. But closer in, they set up 2 noise monitors: one near Langley high school and another at Franklin Park/Chesterbrook.

The planes change directions couple of times a day, but departures/arrivals aways use the same path which is along the river on both sides of the states. Hence, there are noise monitors from: Potomac, Cabin John, CIA McLean, Arlington, Georgetown, Alexandria, to Fort Washington.

[Anonymous]

I find being bothered by this so bizarre. We live in Alexandria, and can walk/run to National Airport. We can see planes on the ascent from our yard. We can FEEL takeoff, and of course hear the planes. It's no big deal and white noise.

But it's part of the tradeoff of living where we live, and doesn't bother us one bit. It's kind of like a rumble of thunder - you get used to it and barely notice it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't air traffic patterns change all the time though? After awhile you hardly even notice it. You can't have it all, a lovely home, in a great neighborhood, with great schools, and great neighbors, a home that appreciates at a steady rate, with no risk of flooding, and zero crime, AND no air traffic. You have to give something up.

No. They don't. There is essentially one runway at DCA, and planes can't fly over the White House, Capitol, etc.

So, no.

I dunno looks like the do https://simpleflying.com/faa-washington-air-traffic/

This was a pretty minor change that redistributed the noise between already heavily affected areas. Since they did this there is a bit less noise over Georgetown and Foxhall and more over Virginia. The path still follows the river though and that is unlikely to change.

It doesn't follow the river, it veers off into VA while planes are still low and goes over residential areas in Arlington and Mclean. It's not constant, there are periods during the day you can clearly see and hear very well planes flying in a line one after another and it is noisy especially when planes turn and linger in the air over residential areas. They didn't do a good job "spreading air traffic" but they are working on it, hopefully it will be more evenly spread eventually without creating air roadways that are heavily utilized for hours on end. I wish they'd send the planes along the river further out and then veered off inland when they would fly at higher altitudes, or just disperse them in as many directions as possible so that most areas get some noise, but none have all the noise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow I'm just finding this thread!

Just moved to Kalorama (yes it is a lovely neighborhood and I am grateful) but I am finding the plane noise to be terrible on North flow days (when they are taking off in our direction) They thunder and echo through the sky from 6 am till near midnight, sometimes at a rate of every 90 seconds. I've waited 54 years to have a small outdoor space and now I can't enjoy it at all. Already thinking of moving.

You sound extra sensitive. I can’t imagine how the planes can be so loud in Kalorama when following the river path and now mostly flying much closer to the Virginia side.

They fly over residential areas of VA way inland from the river and they fly low, you would think airport is nearby when it's pretty far, not sure why they fly so low. There are flight paths that veer off from Potomac into residential parts of Arlington and Mclean and probably FC and Alexandria. When I am in DT Mclean I see they fly in lines over residential homes. I also see planes making turns over dense residential areas and this makes noise linger as planes fly in lines spaced by about a minute.

NP. I live in western part of McLean near Giant grocery, 4 miles away from the Potomac River. This part of town do not get plane noises because the DCA planes always follow the river. But closer in, they set up 2 noise monitors: one near Langley high school and another at Franklin Park/Chesterbrook.

The planes change directions couple of times a day, but departures/arrivals aways use the same path which is along the river on both sides of the states. Hence, there are noise monitors from: Potomac, Cabin John, CIA McLean, Arlington, Georgetown, Alexandria, to Fort Washington.

you absolutely can see planes flying in lines if you are at Giant in Mclean, they aren't directly overhead there, but you can hear them in DT mcLean when you are shopping. They are closer to Langley on one side and Arlington to the other. You would think CIA would be a deterrent to send planes that direction, but apparently it isn't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I find being bothered by this so bizarre. We live in Alexandria, and can walk/run to National Airport. We can see planes on the ascent from our yard. We can FEEL takeoff, and of course hear the planes. It's no big deal and white noise.

But it's part of the tradeoff of living where we live, and doesn't bother us one bit. It's kind of like a rumble of thunder - you get used to it and barely notice it.

Ok, you are used to it, great. I think people are complaining about changes to flight paths, which means they probably didn't buy or choose to live in an area close to the airport. Also, there is pollution, I suppose if noise doesn't bother you, maybe you should consider air quality.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow I'm just finding this thread!

Just moved to Kalorama (yes it is a lovely neighborhood and I am grateful) but I am finding the plane noise to be terrible on North flow days (when they are taking off in our direction) They thunder and echo through the sky from 6 am till near midnight, sometimes at a rate of every 90 seconds. I've waited 54 years to have a small outdoor space and now I can't enjoy it at all. Already thinking of moving.

You sound extra sensitive. I can’t imagine how the planes can be so loud in Kalorama when following the river path and now mostly flying much closer to the Virginia side.

They fly over residential areas of VA way inland from the river and they fly low, you would think airport is nearby when it's pretty far, not sure why they fly so low. There are flight paths that veer off from Potomac into residential parts of Arlington and Mclean and probably FC and Alexandria. When I am in DT Mclean I see they fly in lines over residential homes. I also see planes making turns over dense residential areas and this makes noise linger as planes fly in lines spaced by about a minute. These pathways aren't always utilized all day long, it got a bit better from 1-2 years ago when they would fly for hours every day. When I am in DC around river front they are way closer, but they aren't frequent.

I have opinions that in a densely populated metro it doesn't make sense to have a big airport right in the middle, this is what DCA is. You cannot successfully reduce noise and pollution without reducing number of flights and type of aircraft allowed to fly there, and there are going to be a lot of neighborhoods affected even if you disperse traffic in as many directions as you can. Focus should be on building/maintaining large airports outside of metro areas and creating dedicated toll roads to take people there quickly that wouldn't be used for other purposes. Train lines are also essential and DC has all this. But DCA really needs to be 1/3 of its current capacity and with smaller planes if DC metro residents desire to not deal with noise and pollution. With UAD and BWI airports relatively nearby there is no reason to have so many flights out of DCA.

Disagree completely. Having access to a nearby airport is great. Most people don't want to have to trek all of the way out to Dulles or BWI.

We have regular air traffic above us and it's no big deal.

How many times a year do YOU fly? Vast majority of ppl fly very rarely and it's NBD to have to spend extra 30 min to get to the airport, really, if you do this 2-3x a year total. I used to fly weekly and I would rather take extra time and more direct flights than deal with a airplanes flying overhead