In general, noise levels from National Airport haven’t gotten noticeably louder in recent years, but there are legitimate reasons it has gotten more noticeable for Alexandrians.
In a community meeting about the South of the Airport Noise Mitigation Project, Vianair Inc. CCO Jim Allerdice laid out some of the goals of the project and explained why airport noise has gotten worse in recent years for Alexandrians.
Allerdice said noise monitoring stations haven’t seen any noticeable spikes in noise from air traffic outside of the recovery after a dip in 2020. Overall, Allerdice said noise levels have been fairly consistent over the last ten years.
Despite that, complaint calls about airport noise started trending up starting in 2015, peaking at nearly 200,000 noise complaints in 2019.
Those complaints dipped in 2020 during the Covid pandemic, but trended back up again and came close to 2019 levels in 2022.
The culprit, Allerdice said, is likely the DC Metroplex project.
While previous flightpaths showed that aircraft used to fly down the center of the river and gradually branch out to the east and west.
“Aircraft departed and joined a radial off a [Very High Frequency Omni-Directional Range] (VOR) and flew aircraft down the center of the river,” Allerdice said. “Aircraft was not supposed to be turned until they got to at least 3,000 feet in altitude.”
Allerdice said the result was the spread of aircraft turning left and right was more spread out, less concentrated, and was more centered on the river.
“After Metroplex, they tried to make two tracks,” Allerdice said. “Instead of one straight down the river, there was one slightly to the left and one slightly to the right, closer to both shorelines.”
National Airport has previously been loathe to give up its two-paths approach for efficiency reasons, Allerdice said, but part of the South of the Airport Noise Mitigation Project involves trying to convince the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to return to the over-the-river route. Allerdice said one possibility is keeping the two-path approach, but one of those is in the center of the river and the other stays close to one of the shorelines.
The South of the Airport Noise Mitigation Project is kicking off right as a similar project for noise on the northern side is about to have its recommendations implemented on July 11. Allerdice said that “hopefully folks on the north side will realize the mitigations we’d hoped for” but also said Alexandria and its neighbors have the advantage of being able to learn from the northern project.
Allerdice also said airplanes will always fly over Alexandria to some degree, so full noise elimination is not a realistic goal.
“There are always going to be airplanes and they’re always going to be over somebody’s house, so if the determination of success is ‘does the airplane go over my house or not’ that’s a very narrow definition,” Allerdice said.
The preliminary design philosophy for the South of the Airport Noise Mitigation Project focuses on a series of goals-
- Maximize flight paths over center of the Potomac River and compatible areas, including industrial areas, major highways, utility corridors
- Maximize Altitude — optimize the descent to reduce noise over noise-sensitive areas, essentially allowing planes to glide into National Airport
- Improve track variability so planes don’t go the same place, every day, all the time, to ensure it’s “not like a railway right over your head every day,” Allerdice said. Part of that also involves avoiding disproportionate impact to any single city, town or neighborhood.
- Minimize overhead flights at noise sensitive areas like schools, churches, hospitals and historic sites
