Fairfax County leaders continue to push the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) to fund an outside analysis of aircraft noise’s impact on neighborhoods along the flight path at Reagan National Airport.
“This is merely asking MWAA to do what a whole lot of other airports across the country have done,” Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff McKay said on Sept. 30, when supervisors unanimously approved making the request of MWAA CEO Jack Potter.
An outside analysis was first requested in April 2024 by the Fly Quiet Program subcommittee of the Reagan National Community Working Group. That panel has been working since 2015 to identify ways to reduce aircraft noise in the vicinity of the airport.
At the Sept. 30 meeting, a number of supervisors said having an outside look at noise matters would be beneficial to all involved.
Mount Vernon District Supervisor Dan Storck’s home sits under the southern air corridor into and out of National Airport. He said he frequently hears aircraft flying at what he believes are below established minimums, sometimes during the period between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. when guidelines are in place to limit noise.
But Storck acknowledged that anecdotal evidence needs to be confirmed.
“I believe in data. I believe in good information,” he told fellow supervisors. “Then we can make better decisions.”
McKay estimated the cost of providing outside consulting services at $100,000 to $150,000 per year. Supervisors want MWAA to pick up the tab, calling it “a relatively modest investment given MWAA’s overall budget” in their letter to Potter.
The letter says funding an outside vendor to study data “would represent a tangible step toward addressing community concerns and toward demonstrating MWAA’s commitment to balancing operational efficiency with quality of life for nearby residents.”
Data can also be used to encourage airlines to change practices that, in turn, would reduce the impact of aircraft noise on the surrounding area, county officials said.
Analysis previously requested in 2024
In an Oct. 1 interview, David Mould, MWAA’s vice president for communications and government affairs, told FFXnow the letter was “almost identical” to one sent by county officials last year.
Though MWAA leaders have not formulated a reply to the latest Fairfax letter, Mould says he would expect “a very similar response” to the one given in 2024.
“It’s the same answer to the same question,” he said.
In its 2024 response, Potter wrote that MWAA already has robust protocols for addressing noise issues:
- Maintaining a Noise Information Office
- Forwarding noise complaints to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and airlines
- Publicly providing “a wealth of online information” — both current and historical — about noise at both airports it operates
As for the air corridors leading into and out of Reagan National?
“Only the FAA can change these flight patterns,” Mould told FFXnow, while the 2024 letter to county officials added that “no laws or regulations currently exist to govern noise produced by planes in the air.”
The Reagan National Community Noise Working Group includes representatives from airlines and local governments in Virginia, Maryland and D.C. Both MWAA and the FAA send representatives as advisory members without voting powers.
The body last met on July 24 and is slated to next meet on Thursday, Oct. 23 at 6 p.m. online.
McKay said he hopes county concerns will be addressed.
“We’re in conversation with MWAA on a number of different subjects, and this is an important one,” he said.
New proposals to address issues at raised by the Reagan National working group are in the offing, Mould told FFXnow.
“We are very close to putting our program for DCA together,” he said. “Our goal is to finish it and have it rolled out by the end of the year.”
DCA challenges similar to other airports
The challenge for the FAA in designing flight corridors around any airport, particularly those in urban areas, is whether to disperse the patterns over a wider geographic area, or concentrate them into more narrow bands. Mould compared it to an eight-lane highway versus a one-lane road.
“The airplane’s got to go somewhere,” he said, adding that flying over the Potomac River during takeoffs and landings does provide a degree of cushion against noise in some neighborhoods.
Previous FAA noise dispersal efforts around National Airport met criticism and were scaled back, leaving those who live under the current air routes facing more frequent traffic overhead.
“Those are the folks we’re hearing from,” Mould said.
While aircraft noise may be a frequent complaint for those living around airports, even noise advocates acknowledge that planes have become much quieter over time.
“Over the past 50 years, individual aircraft have reduced their noise impact by 75%,” noted HACAN, a U.K. group concerned about aircraft noise.
“Compared with the first jet aircraft, noise from modern aircraft has been reduced by 97% on departure, a 15-decibel reduction, and 94% on arrival, a 12-decibel reduction,” the organization noted in a 2020 report. “To put that into context, a 97% noise reduction means 33 modern aircraft departing simultaneously from an airport produce together the noise of one jet aircraft of the same size departing in the 1960s.”
However, most major improvements in reducing aircraft noise took place from the 1960s through the 1990s. According to HACAN, progress “has been more limited” since 2000, and the increase in total flights has affected the overall noise footprint for communities near airports.
National Airport opened in 1941 and began allowing jet aircraft operations in 1966. In 2024, there were about 263,000 aircraft operations at Reagan National, up 4.2% from a year before. Commercial flights represented 234,000 of the movements, up 5.1%.
