From the Phoenix Biz Journal:
“In the two years since the FAA implemented the Next Gen program in Phoenix and other cities, flights coming to and from Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport comply with the flight paths only 50 percent of the time…
“Phoenix received less than 200 noise complaints a year in the 10 years prior to Next Gen. Since its implementation, there have been more than 65,000 noise complaints”
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2 Comments
Has there been any action by the City of Scottsdale about the air traffic noise from Sky Harbor?
Another year has gone by without any change to the traffic patters affecting Scottsdale Ranch,Stonegate, Ancala , McDowell Mountain Ranch and DC Ranch.
Last night I was awoken at 12:30AM with a half dozen flights.
There are multiple takes offs per day at full throttle and no noise abatement is undertaken.
Can you do a follow up now that we know Phoenix is having some success with the FAA?
Thanks
Dave Bessey
Hi, David, thanks for your comment.
I have not followed this issue as closely as I would have liked due to time constraints and other more-pressing issues.
However, Scottsdale mayor Jim Lane and our city council have shown no inclination to deal with these issues.
Just to clarify, are you talking about traffic approaching/departing Sky Harbor, or traffic landing at/departing from Scottsdale Airport?
If the latter, Lane, et al, are actually bent on making the noise complaint problem worse, via massive new housing projects under planning or construction along Northsight east of the airport, and at CrackerJax on the Scottsdale Road side to the west.
I’d also say that the atmospheric conditions (cool temps and cloud cover) the last few days have amplified the noise you are hearing from Scottsdale Airport departures. Prevailing winds may have also contributed via change from the preferred takeoff direction.
For safety and performance reasons, takeoffs are always performed at full-power. But there may have been some operations involving older, more noisy aircraft. At one time, there was an air ambulance service that used an older jet which caused a lot of complaints. However, I don’t know if they are still operating at Scottsdale Airport.