Neighbors Fed Up With Noise From BWI Airport

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- The number of noise complaints at BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport has doubled in a one-year span since the FAA upgraded its technology and shifted flight patterns.

The noise of planes flying low over parts of Howard County is so loud, neighbors told WJZ's Meghan McCorkell it rattles everything inside their homes -- multiple times a day.

The disturbance has residents fed up. Following the surge in complaints from neighbors, like Barbara Deckert in Elkridge, the Federal Aviation Administration has called a meeting in September to address, and hopefully resolve, their concerns.

"Sometimes when they went right over my house, I could actually look up and see the shapes of heads in the window," said Deckert, who has lived in her home for 30 years. "...Never heard or seen planes that low here."

"You couldn't sleep. Every time you'd fall asleep, another plane would come and wake you up," she said.

The repeated roar, which residents said sounds like an air show over their homes, makes sleeping impossible no matter what they do, Stephanie Bowie of Hanover told WJZ. "You put two fans on in the bedroom, you put a pillow over your face, you put earplugs in your ears" but nothing seems to help, she said.

The problem has gotten so bad, Howard County officials have met with the FAA with the hopes of finding a solution. "These people have been there for a long time and they really had not experienced the amount of noise that they've endured," said county administrator Lonnie Robbins.

County officials suspect a new air traffic control system, known as "Next Gen," is the source of the problems. Residents, meanwhile, just want their communities to return to the peaceful, quiet settings they're used to so they can get a good night's sleep.