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Airport says tower procedures reduced noise complaints; reports experimental flight-path changes
Summary
Kootenai County airport director reported a large drop in noise complaints after adjusting tower procedures and extending arrival paths over the lake to keep aircraft higher over Hayden and Avondale areas.
Kootenai County airport staff told the Board of County Commissioners on June 24 that changes in air-traffic-control procedures and tower guidance have coincided with a sharp decline in community noise complaints.
"We track and log all of our noise complaints and concerns," Gaston Patterson, director of the airport, told commissioners. He said the airport implemented new "fly friendly" procedures with the tower and experimented with methods to reduce overflight of residential and golf-course areas.
Patterson said the airport logged close to eight complaints in a previous May, compared with one complaint this past May and none so far in June. He attributed some recent questions from residents to temporary changes in traffic patterns while the main runway was closed for construction.
As one mitigation measure, Patterson said tower controllers have been extending arrival paths out over the east side of the lake to keep aircraft higher over Hayden, Avondale Golf Course and nearby neighborhoods. He said the extended approach brings aircraft in at roughly 5,000–6,000 feet over the lake before they descend toward the airport, which has reduced direct overflight of the cited neighborhoods.
Patterson invited questions and reported that feedback to date has been positive from the airport’s perspective; commissioners did not take action during the briefing.
