New Midway Flight Path Prompts Deluge Of Noise Complaints
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Residents living under a new flight path for Midway International Airport have filed a slew of complaints about jet noise in the past few months.
WBBM Newsradio's Dave Berner reports jets pass overhead every few minutes above the intersection of 36th and Damen in the McKinley Park neighborhood.
Planes fly low enough to read the airline's name, and sometimes tail numbers.
"One after another, after another, after another," said Bill, who has lived in the area for more than 50 years. He said the jet noise has never been this bad.
"They're supposed to be following [Interstate] 55, the flight pattern, but they seem to be more over this way," he said.
Residents in McKinley Park in Bridgeport said sometimes they can't hear themselves think.
"It's almost like having the ambulance and them coming down the street with their sirens on. That's how loud it can be sometimes," said Theresa, who also said she can't have a phone conversation outside anymore.
The new flight path – used by 29 percent of Midway's incoming flights – has prompted some 600 complaints from April through June, more than three times as many as the first three months of the year.
The FAA said the new flight path is safer, because planes take a more direct path to Runway 22L, which also saves fuel; but residents living under it want adjustments – preferably north of I-55, which is an industrial area.
