A little more airport noise

Remember all the noise raised about noise emanating from Philadelphia International Airport?

It’s still around. In fact, there were two developments on the airport front Wednesday.

First, U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak, D-7, fired another shot at the much-hated airport redesign plan implemented by the FAA and the resultant increase in flights of heaviliy populated areas of Delaware County.

Joined by fellow Democrat Rep. Rob Andrews, from South Jersey, which is none too happy with the plan either, Sestak took his latest shot at the plan.

He pointed out that the new routes don’t exactly abide by a deal that was struck with the city of Philadelphia back in 2003. He and Andrews say the FAA ignored one corollary of that deal, that the airport would study noise patterns whenever they considered changes in flight paths. Sestak is urging Mayor Michael Nutter to review that agreement.

You can pretty much guess what’s coming next. Sestak has indicated he would consider legal action to block the changes, which have already sparked a lawsuit filed by Delaware County, as well as a hue and cry from residents whose homes sit under those new flight paths.

Meanwhile, down the road in Tinicum, all this talk about airport noise is pretty much old hat. They’ve been dealing with their noisy neighbor for years.

Yesterday they held a public hearing to detail the preliminary findings of another noise study done at the airport last year. Nineteen people showed up.

Airports, and the jets that use them, bring noise. That doesn’t come as much of a thunderbolt to the people in Tinicum who have been dealing with the rumble of aircraft overhead for decades.

But it is news to a lot of other residents of the county who now believe the flight changes enacted by the FAA are having a deleterious effect on their lives.

This noise – either from the jets or residents and officials complaining about it – isn’t going away anytime soon.

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