Norton Gets Commitments from FAA Officials on Airplane Noise

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), co-chair of the Quiet Skies Caucus, yesterday met with Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) officials about her growing concern with FAA's slow progress to address airplane noise that is impacting several District of Columbia neighborhoods. Norton and FAA officials agreed on three steps: FAA will propose a bundled solution for flight departures, which would ensure that the alternative flight paths do not pass the airplane noise from one community to another; FAA will continue to try to reconfigure the arrival flight paths for Ronald Reagan National Airport to follow the Potomac River without flying over land, which significantly reduces the amount of noise impacting neighborhoods; and FAA will work on test runs for the modified flight paths.

"FAA officials understand my concern to finally reach some conclusions and get residents relief from airplane noise," Norton said. "We need solutions for airplane noise that work for all of our residents, and I will be working with FAA to get some finality for our residents after years of debilitating airplane noise."