As improbable as it sounds, Charlotte/Douglas International Airport now suddenly has a noise problem. And one that comes because of more advanced technology. Usually you’d figure that airport noise would be less of a problem over time, as newer aircraft are quieter than older planes. But not in this case.

At the August Airport Advisory Committee meeting, two Lake Wylie residents spoke to complain about noise levels they have experienced since April. While apparently not a verbatim record of what was said, the minutes of the meeting give a general outline of their concerns:

• My name is Paul Davis and I am a long-time resident of Charlotte.
• Want to go on record and say I am pro-Charlotte. I love the city and I love the Airport and anything I say this morning is only in the interest of Charlotte and a better community.
•Want to raise committee’s awareness about community noise issues and the FAA’s RNAV program, which uses exact coordinates and waypoints for planes landing and departing from Charlotte.
• Community is in the Lake Wylie area and is about 12 miles from the airport.
• Have lived in community for 23 years and have never been severely impacted by aircraft prior to RNAV. Since April of this year, we have approximately 300 planes passing over the neighborhood at a rate of every 90 seconds.
• It is newer equipment, but it is loud.
• RNAV is effectively railroad tracks in the sky and current waypoints have them directly over our neighborhood.
• Constant noise impacts our quality of life and our property vales.
• Want to learn what we can do to stop this.
• We are in favor of a dispersal method. Understand that the planes have to take off and land and we will accept our fair share, but it is not acceptable to have the same route used from 6:30AM – 11:00 PM every day.

Airport director Jerry Orr noted that the airport hopes that it can get the FAA to agree to again disperse flights to deal with the noise issues Davis’ neighborhood is facing. That may take some time though, as this would happen via the airport’s federal noise abatement plan. Which is to say this is issue is going to spend some time bouncing around the bureaucracy and things happen when they happen.