Airlines flying in and out of Dallas Love Field Airport are asked to follow a voluntary curfew to help reduce noise at night, but a group of residents who live near the airport say the noise has gotten out of hand, and they are prepared to bring the issue to Congress.
Residents of Briarwood, Bluffview, Elm Thicket/Northpark, Love Field West, and Highland Park spoke at the Dallas Love Field Environmental Advisory Committee meeting on Thursday, expressing their issue with the voluntary noise reduction policy, according to Candy’s Dirt.
Airlines are asked not to schedule flights between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. to help reduce noise pollution in the area.
Steve Klein lives in Bordeaux Village Condos and told Candy’s Dirt that airlines seem to be “trying to make the 11 p.m. cutoff time obsolete.”
“Last time I looked, we had 10 flights coming in after 11 p.m. right up until midnight,” he said. “Delta and Alaska Airlines both have flights that come in at about 10 minutes ‘til midnight. The discussion becomes, what’s more important? Is it the agreement or the fact that it’s a voluntary agreement? As a citizens group, we really want this rolled back to our 11 p.m. curfew because that’s what they agreed to.”
Many complaints have stemmed from the Lemmon Avenue runway, but Randall Turner, a resident of Highland Park, said there are other issues as well.
“Regardless of which runway you live by, we all hear and are negatively impacted by excessive jet noise,” Turner wrote in an email sent to neighbors, per Candy’s Dirt.
Interim Environmental Manager Isaac Ellison spoke at Thursday’s meeting and said there is little the airport administration can do because the policy is voluntary.
“I know maybe it’s not what you want to hear,” said Ellison, per Candy’s Dirt. “We can’t do much, but it starts with you coming to meetings and working together to come up with a solution, versus yelling at the messenger and going in circles.”
“It’s a voluntary program,” he added. “We do what we can with the measures we have. It’s going to be the FAA that has authorization in the air. I can’t really tell an aircraft what to do, where to fly, how high to go, or when to leave. There are just no tools we have like that.”
Jonathan Maples, a representative of the Elm Thicket/Northpark neighborhood, said many residents would continue to fight for the issue to be resolved.
“It’s going to take an act of Congress,” said Maples, according to Candy’s Dirt. “Any time you say ‘voluntary,’ I may and I may not. Chances are if it involves money, I may not. Those pilots work on hours in the sky and mileage. They are not going to take a delay to appease us.”