A resident asked Jefferson County commissioners on July 22 to ask airport staff to expand the boundary of a Part 150 noise study to include her neighborhood and Douglas Elementary School, saying training flights from Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport have increased and routinely create loud engine noise day and night.

"We found that the vast majority of these flights are from the touchdown takeoff flight trainings from the airport to other airports nearby," said Elaine McLaughlin, who identified her home address as 7831 Scenic Drive in Boulder County and said she attended an airport open house July 10. "The result of the trainings is pretty much near-constant loud engine noise. It's evident both in the day and at night and both inside and out."

McLaughlin said overflights occur as early as 5 a.m. and as late as 11:30 p.m., and that noise has intensified over the past few years after four flight-training schools began operating at the airport. She said she recorded videos showing the noise and offered to share them with commissioners.

"Given the frequency of the flights along with the pilots who are in training from these four schools, we also have a concern about increased potential for accidents," McLaughlin said. She asked that the Part 150 study include her neighborhood and areas directly south of the current study boundary.

County leaders noted the airport director was present and had heard the comment; the transcript does not show a formal county decision on the requested study expansion at the July 22 meeting. The Federal Aviation Administration's Part 150 process is the standard mechanism for airport noise compatibility planning; McLaughlin asked local staff to ensure neighborhoods and the school are considered in that process.