The FAA wants to change Phoenix's flight paths. But the city has concerns over noise

The Federal Aviation Administration has proposed consolidating flight paths over greater Phoenix, but the city is asking the FAA to consider alternatives over noise concerns.

In efforts to modernize the Phoenix airspace, the FAA has proposed moving away from dispersed flight paths to satellite guided paths. These paths act like a highway for planes, and consolidate traffic to set routes.

As a result, neighborhoods underneath the proposed flight paths would hear more consistent airplane noise.

Based on the FAA proposal, around 80,000 residents in north Phoenix would experience a reportable noise increase between 3 and 6 decibels.

Jordan Feld, deputy aviation director for Phoenix, told residents at a community meeting that the FAA needs to consider supplemental routes so air traffic is not too concentrated.

“That splits the traffic, so you end up with three different corridors,” Feld said. “Again with the idea that that would diffuse the noise.”

Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport

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This is not the first time Phoenix has had concerns over changes to FAA flight paths.

The last time the FAA tried to change flight paths in Phoenix, the city fought it in federal court and won.

In 2017, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the new FAA flight paths were arbitrary and that, according to court documents., the agency violated several laws, including the National Historic Preservation Act and National Environmental Policy Act.

Now, the FAA is again considering changes to the airspace, and is taking community input.

Feld said residents should contact the FAA asking them to consider alternative options.

“We want to tell the FAA that there's reasonable alternatives that we want them to reconsider,” Feld said. “In fact, the end game to all of this is explaining to the FAA why they need to slow down this process and go back to the drawing board and remodel some of these different routes and remodel the noise exposure.”

Laura Robbins lives in the Deer Valley Park Neighborhood. She agrees the FAA should consider alternative routes.

“I think it's wrong that they just decide to just change things and they don't realize the impact,” Robbins said. “I'm sure if they lived there, they would.”

Robbins said her kids and grandkids live in the same neighborhood, and they spend a lot of time outside together. She said currently she cannot hear a lot of flight traffic from her house.

But the FAA noise model shows the airplane noise would noticeably increase at her home. Proposal maps show a noticeable traffic shift from Scottsdale to north Phoenix.

Federal Aviation Administration

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Robbins says she will continue to be a squeaky wheel in hopes the FAA will listen.

City councilmember Ann O’Brien’s district includes Deer Valley.

“I really want them to consider looking at some of those alternative routes,” O’Brien said. “So that, again, not just one set of … Phoenicians are bearing the full brunt of this change.”

O’Brien said she was not on the council when they took prior action to sue the FAA.

“When you file a lawsuit against the federal government and you win, that feels a little bit like winning the lottery,” O’Brien said. “And I'm not sure that's going to happen twice.”

O’Brien urged residents to contact the FAA before the window for public comment closes June 30.