Residents React To Meeting With FAA
Hundreds of angry and frustrated residents showed up at the Phoenix City Council chambers Thursday night. They were there to tell city and federal officials that changes in flight paths at Sky Harbor have had unintended – and noisy – consequences.
The meeting lasted for more than two hours. Residents of historic central Phoenix neighborhoods finally had a chance to tell the Federal Aviation Administration how aircraft noise is hurting them.
Last month, the FAA implemented its new satellite-based system called Next Gen. It is supposed to improve safety and efficiency. The roll out also involved new flight paths over west-central Phoenix. Steve Dreiseszun lives in one of those neighborhoods.
"We don’t think comments fell on deaf ears, we understand it's bureaucracy," said Dreiseszun. "However, at the end of the meeting, the FAA individuals who had attended indicated that they would have a response back in 30 days and they would have solutions. So we take that as a positive sign."
The FAA said it conducted tests before implementing the new departure and arrival flight paths. Their tests showed no significant difference in noise.
