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Norton Asks FAA to Revisit Late-Night Flight Policies During Construction at Reagan Airport

December 15, 2011

Norton Asks FAA to Revisit Late-Night Flight Policies During Construction at Reagan Airport

December 15,2011

Washington, DC – After continuing to receive complaints from District of Columbia residents, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today sent a letter to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) asking for changes to its policies on late-night and early-morning flights into Reagan National Airport during construction on the main runway. Earlier, Norton had called FAA officials to address the complaints, but residents have continued calling her office, saying that they have experienced deafening, terrorizing noise and lights from planes flying directly over their homes in the dead of night. In her letter to Michael P. Huerta, Acting Administrator of the FAA, Norton requested that the agency explore alternative approaches for airplanes flying into Reagan National Airport during the late evening and early morning hours until runway construction is complete in April and the airport can return to normal operations. She also suggested that the FAA consider doing some of the necessary work during business hours or on weekends to help curb so many flights being diverted into a new landing pattern that disturbs residents.

"We understand that the aging runway needs to be repaired, but the complaints we have been receiving are not the usual air traffic noise complaints," Norton said. "Some homes shake every time an airplane is landing, and the sleep and health of residents are being wrecked because of it. I am asking the FAA to revisit how it can complete its projects at Reagan without disrupting the lives and health of nearby residents."

The full letter follows.