FAA Docket Filings for September 15, 2023

Tuesday, October 3, 2023

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6 Filings as of 05:03 pm Eastern Time

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FAA Docket - 49 Filings Comments - 6 Filings

Comment from Shana Burack

I’m reaching out to express my extreme frustration with the noise pollution (as well as lead and other toxins) from the local general aviation airport. When we first moved to this neighborhood we thought it was heaven. Wonderful neighbors, a cul-de-sac with no traffic, a block away from an expansive open space park with rolling hills and scenic vistas of the mountains, a huge backyard with a nice patio… and yet over the past several years it has slowly turned into hell.

Initially it wasn’t bad living near an airport. The skyrocketing increase in the flight school activity over the past few years is significantly deteriorating the health and quality of the lives of the residents who live in affected areas. People who claim we shouldn’t have moved near an airport don’t understand. It was a small regional airport initially. If you buy a house on a normal residential road, you don’t expect it to become a 6 lane major highway.

Each individual flight school plane flies 20-35 loops at low altitude (300-500ft) over my neighborhood, usually roughly 5-8 planes at a time. There is often a plane above us every 30-60 seconds. The flight schools start around 5am and fly until 11pm or 12am, but lately there has been a plane that also chooses to fly at 2am, 3am, 4am, or whenever they decide.

The noise level is beyond absurd. We are unable to use our backyard or open our windows. There is often literally no quiet moment for many hours each day, given the fading sound as one plane heads past us is quickly overshadowed by the next approaching plane. Many times it’s hard to carry on a conversation or listen to a podcast in your own home with the windows closed. There is literally no way to block out the low frequency and vibrations from the planes to facilitate sleep. We have on a fan, a white noise machine, a hatch sound machine, sound-dampening curtains, and sound-canceling headphones (which are uncomfortable to sleep with)… but the planes still keep us up late at night and wake us by 5:30am at the latest daily.

It’s well documented that sleep deprivation leads to a myriad of physical and mental health problems and is used as a form of torture. The flight schools are literally torturing us. I’m watching my neighbors rage about the noise pollution on social media and I’m literally worried someone will have a mental breakdown. And I understand and share their anger. Our toddler daughter recently had surgery to remove a brain tumor; it’s completely enraging that she is unable to get the restorative sleep that she needs to heal and recover in her own home.

There are many examples on social media of flight school pilots who brag about harassing our neighborhood and threaten specific residents by name for daring to speak out against the noise level. It’s completely horrifying that these flight schools are being allowed to erode our neighborhood and drive people from their homes. I have several neighbors who have already moved, forced from what they intended to be their forever home. I am looking to move as well, but the financial loss will be hard to manage, given record high mortgage rates and our decreasing property value due to the airport proximity. We are reporting noise complaints to the airport and the FAA daily. Nothing is helping; the airport continues to grow.

Physical safety is another massive concern. There was just a plane crash 2 days ago near the Centennial airport. Last summer there were 8 plane crashes within a 4 month span. How does anyone consider it safe to have 8 novice pilots at a time circling 20-30 times each above a dense residential area? What will it take to decide it makes far more sense to have flight schools practice far away from our precious children and families? If a flight school plane crashes into one of the 4 elementary schools they circle over, would that news headline convince anyone to make a change? It makes so much more sense to have these flight school planes fly to an airport in a remote area to practice their touch-and-goes where there would be no danger or impact on residents.

Why is any of this tolerated? An entire community should not have to move to accommodate one man’s desire to expand the airport. I would fully welcome you and your family to spend a few nights in my home so that you can experience how the airport and flight schools are impacting us.

Thank you so much, I greatly appreciate your time and your attention to this matter.