Airport Commission Explores Richfield Complaints of Planes Flying Over 'Unmitigated Areas' of the City

Richfield officials revealed the results this week of a flight study that stemmed from several June complaints about planes' excessive, early turns off Runway 30L during flight departures.

The planes would then fly over unmitigated areas of the city, such as south of 66th Street, according to city officials.

"These flights were especially noticed during the early morning hours around 5:30 a.m. and later in the evening," their notice says. "City staff contacted the Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC) to advise them of the complaints and to inquire as to the reason for so many early turns off Runway 30L."

Data Results
MAC staff’s evaluation of June flight operations indicate that, while Runway 30L departures were down 47 percent in June 2016 compared to 2015, more flights are turning left and flying over and south of 66th Street than in 2015.

A graph on the Richfield website shows the penetration gate drawn over 66th Street from I-35W east to the airport and indicates that June 2016 had 63 percent more departures at that gate than in June 2015.

Next Steps
Richfield’s representative on the MAC’s Noise Oversight Committee (NOC) raised the city’s concern about this situation at the July 19th NOC meeting. Apparently, the early turns off Runway 30L may be an outcome of the recently-implemented converging runway operations.

These new operations have significantly reduced the use of Runway 35 for arrivals which has resulted in the opening up of airspace over Richfield. The control tower has been giving pilots headings that take them over unmitigated neighborhoods of southeastern Richfield.

City officials have communicated their displeasure with these new noise impacts and will be meeting with MAC staff and representatives from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in the coming weeks to try to resolve this issue.

The above content and accompanying photo was provided by the city of Richfield.