Attorney General Appeals to FAA to Alter Noisy D.C. Flight Paths

District residents in Foggy Bottom and neighborhoods near Georgetown University, Canal Road and MacArthur Boulevard have been seriously and adversely affected by aircraft noise from new flight paths implemented by the Federal Aviation Administration for Reagan National Airport in 2015, according to a letter D.C. Attorney General Karl A. Racine sent to FAA Administrator Michael Huerta and FAA Easter Regional Administrator Carmine Gallo. The new low-altitude flight paths create early-morning noise and fly directly over neighborhoods and schools. Concerns about the noise have been expressed for several months.
Racine’s letter cites a precedent set in Long Island, New York, in 2013 in which the D.C. Circuit upheld an FAA decision to require helicopter flight paths to avoid residential areas, thus confirming that the FAA has the “authority to change flight paths in order to reduce the impact of aircraft noise on residents living below them,” according to the letter.
A coalition of community groups as well as Georgetown University have challenged the implementation of the flight paths in the D.C Circuit Court of Appeals. D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton and Rep. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland have also sent federal letters to the FAA demanding changes.