Morning after morning, day after day, The Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Control Tower directs thousands of flights off Logan’s Runway 27. That runway’s air traffic flies directly over Jamaica Plain after inundating South End and Roxbury then proceeding to Roslindale and Hyde Park.
Most people know that planes prefer to take off directly into the prevailing wind but when there is little wind, instead of using another runway at Logan, the FAA insists on dwelling on the same runway day after day. The Logan Community Advisory Committee (CAC) is currently working with the FAA and Massport on a system that the Tower could use to prevent this “persistence and dwell” on runways. Such a program was created and installed in the early 1980s, as well as in the 1990s, but to no avail. The FAA Tower does as it pleases with little regard for close-in communities suffering from severe noise impacts.
If anyone is bothered by this abusive noise over our heads they can do two things:
1.) Each day they are using Runway 27, call Massport’s noise complaint line: 617-561-3333. The only good that does is to register with the authorities that JP had a great deal of airplane noise;
2) Contact Congressmen Mike Capuano at 617-621-6208 and Stephen Lynch 617-428-2000 and ask that they pressure the FAA to seriously use a preferential runway assignment system at Logan to offer all communities some desperately needed relief.
Will Lyman
Jamaica Plain Logan CAC Representative