Friday, December 04, 2015

Milton, Norfolk County, Massachusetts: Meeting on airplane noise draws hundreds



MILTON – U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch thinks progress was made during a meeting Thursday night between Federal Aviation Administration officials and citizens who have endured increased airplane noise from a new navigation system.

“I think we had a few breakthroughs,” Lynch said after the meeting. “I’m glad the FAA heard the pain and the complaints here.’

Lynch, who dropped a proposed amendment to cut the FAA budget by $25 million in exchange for the meeting, said he plans to keep up the pressure on the agency to make changes.

“We will make life miserable for them until we get what we want,” Lynch said.

Lynch’s district includes two of the communities with a large number of aircraft noise complaints, Milton and Hull, as well as Boston neighborhoods including South Boston, Roslindale and West Roxbury.

Also attending the meeting were Lynch’s fellow Massachusetts Democrats Michael Capuano and Katherine Clark.

The crowd nearly filled the Milton High School auditorium, which has a capacity of 700, with scores of people lining up to speak. In addition to Milton residents, there was a large delegation from Hull, as well as from Boston neighborhoods and from Arlington and Belmont.

The meeting was scheduled to last two hours, but it lasted nearly twice as long.

At issue is the new, GPS-based NextGen navigation system in use at Logan Airport that has the effect of keeping incoming and outgoing flights on a narrow path, which can send flight after flight over the same location.

Benefits of the system, which is scheduled to be phased in nationwide through 2015, are that it helps airlines save on fuel costs and makes flight operations more efficient.

Tom Juris of South Boston said he counted 33 planes flying over his South Boston home between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m. Thursday.

Sheryl Fleitman of Milton said the system must have been devised without taking into account the people living under the flight paths.

“After listening to planes hour after hour, you’re not reasonable anymore,” Fleitman said.

Speakers wanted to see planes dispersed over a wider area, not flying over the same spot over and over, and fly higher to reduce both noise and pollution. They would also like to see planes use routes that carry them over the water.

FAA officials did not make any commitments to changes that would reduce the noise.

FAA Deputy Regional Administrator Todd Friedenberg said wind and weather conditions dictate which runways are in use.

In response to comments that aircraft are flying at lower altitudes under the new system, Friedenberg said those requirements have not changed in decades. He did say a change is being considered for at least one runway that would have the planes flying higher.

Both Lynch and Capuano suggested moving the flight path over Hull a mile offshore to provide noise relief.

An FAA official said that would violate required distance separation between inbound and outbound aircraft.

Source: http://www.patriotledger.com

No comments:

Post a Comment