Some of the new flight paths in the United States are great for travelers, but not so great for the people who live below them on the ground. In 2014 the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) began a NextGen modernization program to save fuel and reduce emissions, but that also means that planes are flying closer to the ground.
Of course, the downside to that is that when a plane flies at a lower elevation it also sounds louder. There has been at least one lawsuit filed about the issue in Phoenix, Arizona, and there have been a variety of complaints in California, New York, North Carolina, Maryland, and Washington, D.C.
Unfortunately for the FAA, the people have benefitted from the changes in flight paths are not speaking out as much as the people who don’t like the changes. Changing one flight path can often mean changing many flight paths, so it’s currently unknown how all of this will play out.
