TagFAA(514)

This document is an invoice from ABCx2, LLC to Arlington County, Virginia, for $19,637.50 in consulting services rendered during July and August 2021 as part of the Arlington Phase II project. The work included community working group (CWG) meetings and presentations, FAA-related briefings, noise abatement procedure drafting, and flight track data analysis performed by a team of consultants billed at $250–$350 per hour. The invoice reflects cumulative project spending of $76,637.50 against a total project budget of $150,000, leaving a remaining balance of $73,362.50.

The FAA announced a Notice of Funding Opportunity for an Airport Environmental Mitigation Pilot Program, authorized under Section 190 of the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018, which provides grants of up to $2.5 million per project to help public-use airports measurably reduce aviation impacts on noise, air quality, or water quality within five miles of the airport. Up to six projects may be funded, with costs split 50/50 between federal and airport matching funds, and projects must be carried out by an eligible consortium of businesses, educational or research organizations, government entities, or federal laboratories. Pre-applications were due by July 9, 2021, and priority was given to projects achieving the greatest reductions in aircraft noise, emissions, or water quality impacts.

This FAA presentation from February 18, 2021 explains Section 175 of the 2018 FAA Reauthorization Act, which addresses community noise concerns related to aircraft departure procedures. The law requires the FAA to consider dispersal headings or varied flight paths for new or amended departure procedures that direct aircraft between the surface and 6,000 feet over noise-sensitive areas, but only when the airport operator — not the community directly — formally requests it. Any approved changes must not significantly increase noise over noise-sensitive areas or interfere with the safe and efficient operation of the national airspace system.

This 2021 FAA report analyzes the Neighborhood Environmental Survey (NES), a large-scale study examining how aircraft noise affects communities around 20 U.S. commercial airports. Researchers surveyed over 10,000 residents and found that annoyance with aircraft noise increases steadily as noise levels rise, with significantly more people reporting high annoyance than older studies had suggested. The findings provide an updated national curve showing the relationship between measured noise exposure (DNL) and community annoyance, which can inform airport noise policy decisions.

The Washington State Department of Revenue submitted this 2021 report to the Legislature updating the state's action plan regarding Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) policy on airport revenue. The FAA requires that any state or local taxes on aviation fuel enacted after December 30, 1987—including the hazardous substance tax, petroleum products tax, and local sales and use taxes—be spent exclusively on airport and aviation purposes. The report also recommends a method for separately tracking the amounts collected from these taxes on aviation fuel, developed in consultation with the Washington State Department of Transportation's Aviation Division.

The FAA conducted a large-scale Neighborhood Environmental Survey (NES) of 10,000 people near 20 U.S. airports to measure how aircraft noise affects community annoyance, finding that significantly more people are bothered by noise than older studies suggested — about 66% of respondents were highly annoyed at 65 decibels (DNL) and 20% at 50 decibels. The agency uses the Day-Night Average Sound Level (DNL) metric to measure noise exposure and is reviewing whether its longstanding 65 DNL threshold for 'significant' noise impact should be updated. The FAA is seeking public comment on these research findings before making any changes to official noise policy.