Reply to Airplane noise concerns overblown?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]One of the agenda items at the last Working Group meeting was a proposal for changing flight paths south of the airport. The areas affected are Fairfax County, Alexandria and Prince George's County. It involves both departures and arrivals.

Southbound departures currently travel along the Potomac River before making a turn to the west past Alexandria. The proposal eliminates the early turn over Alexandria/Fairfax County and extends the departure flight path further south to Accokeek. The goal is to allow airplanes to have an "unrestricted climb" so they could gain the altitude faster.

This is interesting because Montgomery County had the unrestricted climb scenario until a few years ago. However, Potomac residents did not like being near it and asked the FAA to introduce an early turn over Bethesda with the goal of stopping the airplanes from reaching Potomac. The airplanes that now make that early turn are very low and make a lot of noise.

So, if the Working Group thought the unrestricted climb was not good enough for Potomac in MoCo, why do they now believe it is good enough for Accokeek in Prince George's County?

The proposed solutions to the noise in Accokeek are minor. They involve a slight increase in the altitude of arrivals. All those who are involved with airplane noise know that 300 or 400 ft will make no difference. In fact, according to the Working Group a decrease in noise below 3db will not be audible to the human ear.

The Working Group continues to avoid discussions of decreasing the number of airplanes landing over Accokeek because there are those on the Working Group who refuse to share the noise equitably while only reaping benefits. Such solutions would not come from the consultant re-designing the flight path (it is not to his advantage anyways), but rather through direct talks between the Working Group participants and the FAA.

The explanation given for that particular design is that there are fewer people living in Accokeek and some further out parts of Fairfax than in Alexandria or other close-in communities. But the flight path for departures north of the airport was moved from scarcely populated compatible land to a densely populated area in Bethesda!

Are those less populated communities further out in Fairfax like Lorton or Occoquan represented on the Working Group? They will be affected. What is being done to reach out to them?

Public meetings will be held in PG, Alexandria and Fairfax County so that residents can learn about the proposal and decide on it. I hope this process will be transparent, well publicized, and will allow for full participation of all communities affected by the proposed changes.

Here's the presentation:
https://www.flyreagan.com/sites/flyreagan.com/files/2025-01/DCA%20SOA%20CWG%20Presentation%2020250123%20vFinal.pdf
[/quote]
Any updates?[/quote]

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