Steve Burns
WMAL.com
WASHINGTON – (WMAL) As complaints around plane noise continue mounting, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan has directed Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh to sue the Federal Aviation Administration, alleging a lack of study and planning has caused an inordinate amount of disruption to residents living under an approach route.
“This program has made many Maryland families miserable in their own homes with louder and more frequent flights which now rattle windows and doors,” Hogan wrote. “As elected leaders of this state ,we cannot allow this situation to stand.”
The trouble started in 2014, when the FAA instituted its NextGen system, ostensibly to streamline flight paths to save time and fuel. The effect, said Montgomery County Council President Roger Berliner, was a condensing of noise and disruption.
“What it was before was an inconvenience for many,” he said. “And now it has become unbearable for some. And that’s not fair.”
Berliner applauded Hogan’s directive, especially in light of an earlier ruling by the same court in a similar case out of Phoenix, forcing the FAA to revert to its previous paths around that city’s airport.
“This was all done, in the opinion of the Court of Appeals, without proper notice, and without examining the impact that it would have on communities,” Berliner said. “It has disrupted their quality of life. It has disrupted their sleep. It has disrupted their property values.”
A recent report from the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, which runs both Reagan National Airport and Dulles International Airport, said a total of 36,653 complaints were reported in 2016 around Reagan National alone. Of those, MWAA said, 17,273 were filed by one person. It’s a sharp increase from 2015, when MWAA reported 8,760 total complaints. MWAA’s report blames NextGen’s implementation, along with increased demand for early morning and light night flights and expanding development near airports for the large complaint volume.
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