airplane in the sky originally uploaded by Sean MacEntee
According to this article in the Star Tribune, Eagan has become the #1 source for complaints about airport noise in the metro even beating out the City of Minneapolis which boasts five times as many residents. But even though the number of submissions regarding the noise has risen, their complaints appear to be falling upon deaf ears.
From the article:
Airport officials say they sympathize with Eagan residents, but there is not much they can do. Flight operations are run by the Federal Aviation Administration, said Chad Leqve, manager for aviation noise and satellite programs for the Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC), which operates the airport.
The article goes on to note that the single biggest problem is that even though air traffic into MSP has declined in recent years due to numerous factors, the use of the new runway which was not in existence prior to 2005 is still being heavily utilized when, as Eagan residents argue, the others should be used instead.
How is the airport noise for you? Has it decreased at all with the economic conditions and post-Northwest world or are you still hearing the same number of planes pass overhead? Do you wonder why it takes the FAA so long to make changes to the route patterns knowing the noise issues it causes with local residents not originally affected by the airport? Whatever you have to say about airport noise in your area go ahead and comment on as I’d love to hear your thoughts.
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March 30th, 2011 at 7:45 am
While I don’t live in Eagan (Cottage Grove) I have also noticed increased air traffic over my house. Granted, it’s nothing to complain about, since 90% of the time, the planes are still high enough where I don’t get any severe disturbance from the planes, but on rare occurrence I do.
While I do have some sympathy for residents that have lived there for years, and are now experiencing more noise, I don’t really feel bad for new residents. Tho can clearly see by looking up, or by researching the neighborhood and learn of the nearby issues..
March 30th, 2011 at 8:05 am
I have lived in Eagan for almost 20 years. When I moved there, I was pretty sure that I was going to hear planes over my house. More on some days, less on others and certainly the wind direction also helped to contribute to the volume, either up or down.
I don’t remember the airport showing up at my closing with a promise to never change runways or take-off directions. I live near the airport, I deal with the noise. That I travel frequently just makes the trade for noise vs. convenience that much easier to tolerate.
The idiots that live in Eagan about air noise are equally as stupid as the people who live on golf courses and bitch about the golfers who hit balls into their yards.
March 30th, 2011 at 8:28 am
I live in Eagan, and am practically on a direct line from the south end of the runway in question (I’m estimating within a thousand feet). I very rarely hear the planes, even though I see them all the time. Maybe I’m just very acclimated by now, maybe there’s some acoustical quirk that keeps me from hearing the noise; I don’t know. The only time I notice them are when it’s a very loud cargo plane, or if it’s extremely cold out and the sound travels farther as a result. I can’t say I’ve ever noticed it when I’ve been out and about in Eagan, either. Plus, I think being near the airport is much more of a positive for Eagan than a negative.
March 30th, 2011 at 8:46 am
There’s a whole quotient of the public that has nothing else to do besides pissing and moaning about things like this, road conditions, train cars parked next to their neighborhood, etc. You could put these people and their 2.5 kids, dog, and beige McMansion in a freaking Bubble of Utopia and they’d complain that the sunshine up their ass is too bright. I wish the FAA would paint a big middle finger and “FU” on the bottom of a 747 and fly it in circles 1,000 feet over these people’s homes for a few hours on the next beautiful, warm day.
(That might be the fresh-off-vacation, snow vs. 80-degrees and beach talking)
March 30th, 2011 at 8:55 am
I used to live a block from the MOA, which means plans practically landed on my patio. When the windows were open it was deafening – enough to stop conversation for a good 15 seconds at least. I moved and vowed I’d never live close to that again. In hindsight, I think I’d rather have to deal with an occasional plane than 45 MPH traffic zipping by my house. Dealing with a major annoyance a few times a day is a whole lot easier than having a minor annoyance go by every 30 seconds.
March 30th, 2011 at 8:59 am
I live in Burnsville and yes we do have some more noise now and then from airplanes; however, as we live close to the hospital we also have to deal with helicopter noise. It isn’t the end of the world.
March 30th, 2011 at 9:43 am
If anything, like Joey said, I notice the noise from nearby roads much more than I ever do airplanes. Though the traffic noise doesn’t bother me either.
March 30th, 2011 at 9:51 am
I only notice the road noise on the second floor of my house (I am directly adjacent to 160th) as the berm causes the sound to bounce up directly into my bedroom window.
I find the noise mitigation requirements ridiculous as they apparently only test at ground level and thus in the areas most likely to be affected by road noise (sleeping quarters) are thus hit the hardest.
March 30th, 2011 at 10:35 am
I live in Eagan. I’ve noticed the noise has increased with the new runway. It’s somewhat annoying but nothing like South Minneapolis was before the new runway (and perhaps now).
March 30th, 2011 at 10:41 am
here’s a MAC page on noise abatement.
http://www.macnoise.com/pilot_info
the noise does not bother me at all. we live behind doyles farm, falcon ridge middle school. When they land on runway 35, north, we can hear them for quite a while being as they’re low and slow. when they take off on 17 they’re higher and i don’t notice them as much.
i haven’t missed a payday since 1965 thanks to the airlines.
bb
March 30th, 2011 at 10:46 am
I live in Eagan, but pretty far out from the airport, and only hear the planes when I’m outside in the evening and they’re taking off to the south and banking east. It’s disruptive to an alfresco dinner, but I really can’t complain.
However, more power to the whiners since it benefits me.
March 30th, 2011 at 11:39 am
I used to live off of Diffley between Rahn and Blackhawk and did notice a difference after that runway went live, but it wasn’t all the time and usually only when they were taking off to the south.
I now live in South Minneapolis near the end of the parallel runways (not directly on the inbound paths, thankfully) and relatively speaking, the noise levels in Eagan are nothing compared to that. But I bought there full well knowing. You get so used it it after a while, I’m surprised that many people are still complaining about it. The new runway has been open for a while.
March 30th, 2011 at 3:25 pm
I live in Apple Valley, under the flight path, and I can live with the noise. Heck, when we lived in South Dakota, we got the landing lights from the nine o’clock jet shining through our bathroom window. Very unsettling, when you’re in the tub.
I do have a complaint, though, about the interference we get on our television, now that we’ve had to switch to the digital. Every time a C-130 or one of the big jets passes overhead, it messes up the reception, sometimes entire scenes, which is frustrating when you’re following a recipe. In my more disgruntled moments, I’m reminded that once again, poor people got screwed. In my more grounded moments, I tell myself that this is not a real problem in this world.
March 30th, 2011 at 4:05 pm
I seem to remember MSP saying that the flight path was going to further east over Johnny Cake. In actuality it is over Cedar-ish. Not 100%, but if this is the case, then I could see why people would be upset.
As for our house (we live near Alimagnet Park in AV), the noise doesn’t bother me. It is actually better during high traffic times as the plane line up further south. During slower times of the day, the flight paths seem to vary east and west more.
March 31st, 2011 at 3:12 pm
We live in Eagan, near Diffley and Johnny Cake and 35E. I think I have noticed the number of planes going overheard increasing, including the noise (and as I type this). Occasionally, there are some super loud ones, but for the most part, it’s not too terrible. We were told it was supposed to go down a year or so ago, so that’s more annoying (the fact that they said it would and it didn’t). I do love the convenience in going to the airport, and we are currently saving up for new windows in the hopes that that’ll reduce the noise coming in (and a 2nd, louder plane passing by right now).
We’ve never complained though, because, well… you do sort of live with it. We can’t hear the 35E traffic from our house (though we are within walking distance), but if we went outside we could hear it.
March 31st, 2011 at 6:50 pm
What’s really hysterically humorous are comments from the “naysayers” that have NO comprehension/knowledge of aircraft noise levels within the primary, secondary and tertiary rings of MSP International. These same “naysayers” have NO understanding of how lives in Eagan and Burnsville have changed since the opening of the North/South runway. Prior to moving to Burnsville’s northeast quadrant 37 years ago much time was spent studying airport flight patterns prior to purchasing a home. I also attended several public Metropolitan Airports Commission meetings regarding this new runway. MAC’s mantra at ALL of these meetings was that they had paid the DNR over 20 million dollars in mitigating fees to allow take offs to follow the Minnesota River Valley. That one statement defused much of the dissension regarding this new runway. Did this take place? … HELL NO!!! Were we lied to?…. HELL YES !!! Those who call us whiners appear to be extremely ignorant of the facts.
April 1st, 2011 at 11:54 am
37 Years ago? Bitter much? Give it a rest brother.
April 1st, 2011 at 1:33 pm
the runways at Wold were still sod waaaaay back then.
bb
April 1st, 2011 at 5:08 pm
Lefty, I’d LOVE to say your Righty:)
July 15th, 2011 at 1:32 am
I live in Eagan and have no problem with the sounds, although growing up as a kid in the winters hearing the engine run-ups from MSP made me think they were some scary martian aircraft or something.
In fact I like seeing some of the planes, around 12:45 pm every thursday a flight from (I believe tokyo) comes in on the whale (747-400) and flies right over eagan. The 747 is always a fun sight to see.
September 22nd, 2011 at 7:01 am
[...] in March the on-going noise issues related to inbound and outbound flights coming from MSP reared their ugly head, yet again, in Eagan. While many readers noted at the time that they believe [...]
March 10th, 2013 at 8:23 am
I live in Eagan near hiway 13 and Yankee Doodle. We moved hear in 1980 after researching airplane noise and found there to be no regular or constant flights over the house we eventually pruchased. I know of airplane noise after growing up in south Minneapolis. There were no problems until a few years ago when more and more flights came over our house and it keeps getting worse. On some days the flights are constant, some are as little as a minute apart and are low and loud. It is very loud and no one should be subjected to this constant noise.
March 10th, 2013 at 9:12 am
Robert Paggen,
Then move you crybaby.
lefty
March 10th, 2013 at 1:21 pm
The fact that things have changed in the last 32+ years is not surprising.
I live 2-3 miles from you and I very rarely notice the noise. Really, the only time I do is when I’m outside. I suppose anything can bother you if you obsess about it.
March 10th, 2013 at 5:14 pm
Yeah, I don’t think it’s very realistic to not expect things to change in that amount of time. I don’t expect the area I live in to look the same ten years from now, much less over thirty.
March 10th, 2013 at 6:10 pm
ummm,
bobby, let me see if i understand this correctly, yankee doodle and 13. as i see it you moved in about 2 3/4 miles from the extended centerline of the MAIN RUNWAY for good ol’ wold chamberlain airport. what would be the odds of MSP maybe increasing traffic? seems to me you missed your homework assignment. maybe if you whine enough MAC, the state of minnesota, AKA us taxpayers will throw some r45 in your attic.
bb
March 11th, 2013 at 8:47 am
Dear Robert Paggan,
Please read post #4.
Sincerely,
MSPD
March 12th, 2013 at 10:41 am
We live right under a flight path and the only time it bothers me is on warm-weather Saturday mornings when it seems especially loud (windows open). That said, I’ve lived places where there was no flight noise, but the commute to the airport was an hour-brutal.
We chose Eagan knowing full where where the airport was and will not move anytime soon. You do get used to it. Besides, it’s MN and I swear for most of the year we have our windows closed because of the cold. Plus Andersen windows help muffle it!