Montgomery County Airpark Airport (KGAI) is in Gaithersburg, Maryland, and from an overhead view courtesy of Google Maps, has a fair number of homes surrounding it.
A June 2021 story on General Aviation News reported on the Friends of Montgomery County Airpark Airport’s Change.org petition to save the airport. According to officials at the time, an anti-airport group called Citizens For Airpark Safety had petitioned the local government to stop touch and goes at the airport.
In follow-on conversations with members of Citizens For Airpark Safety, they told General Aviation News editor Janice Wood they did not — and do not — want to close the airport. But as business and flight activity have grown at the airport in the last few years, so has the level of noise neighbors are subject to. The group, they told us at the time, wants to find ways to mitigate that noise.
Bethesda Magazine reported on a Dec. 14 Zoom meeting of the Montgomery County Revenue Authority, which operates the airport, to discuss the future of operations at the field.
From the story: “Julie Kornack, another resident close to the airpark, also said she does not oppose it [the airport]. She likened the increase in noise to motorcycles driving circles around people’s houses every day. She asked that flight schools attempt to change their flight paths to move them away from residential areas.”
In an attempt to provide context, Keith Miller, CEO of the county’s revenue authority, said, “from Jan. 1, 2021 through early Dec. 7, there were 6,440 complaints. Of those, 86% came from ‘four unique households.’ In total, 42 households had submitted complaints in that period.”
This isn’t a new discussion either.
A Jan. 30, 2015, myMCMedia story is still on YouTube with many of the soundbites sounding very familiar.
A consultant “with experience evaluating issues at both small and large airports, in order to review ongoing complaints at the county’s airpark” will be hired by County Executive Marc Elrich.
I’m house hunting and know better than to buy a house directly next to the airpark, but is the noise still disruptive 2-3 miles away? I’m not really familiar with the flight patterns, but looking at property between rock creek park and the 200 (NE of shady grove metro). Would appreciate insight on noise level from anyone familiar with the area :-).
Montgomery County is addicted to building on every square inch of land. I am just about to move my newly acquired Mooney there and fear it will be short lived. There is a shortage of GA facilities in the DC Metro area as it is.
All these people moved under the traffic pattern. Most were warned and from what I understand had to sign a document when they bought the homes. I don’t feel sorry for them at all. Wish they would stop attacking the GAI users. It is their own darn fault if they are unhappy about it.
That’s just under 4 Complaints per day from four households every day of the year. Someone REALLY needs to get a life or move! So why do people buy a house near an airport? In Maryland at closing you have to sign a document stating there are nearby airports listed by name. So lack of knowledge that there is an airport nearby is not an excuse. Could it be that those four households could be in the housing or development business and there’s money to be had if they can close the airport? When I first flew into GAI it was in the country not in the middle of town.
I like the airplane owners that build houses with hangars attached to a public airport, EIK, then don’t want the downwind over their house.
So now there is RP for 16 and LP for 34. Calm days can be dangerous.
And the airplane house owners don’t want the noise, so how would non airplane owners like the noise.
I try to be considerate of noise, but not at my own risk.
Different day same old problem . Airport there first WITH lots of space around it THEN city /county sales EVERY INCH of land right up to the airport fence NEVER leaving areas for noise abatement happens over and over again and again !
All it takes are a few inconsiderate pilots to annoy local homeowners. I am a local homeowner and a Private Pilot using KBVY (Beverly, Massachusetts) so I try to ignore infrequent bad behavior. But there are some pilots that impossible to ignore. For example the Piper pilot who frequently flies at about 200 feet AGL in circles over our neighborhood (a congested housing area) in the City of Beverly, MA. If I see his/her N-number I will file a complaint. I love flying and like nice considerate pilots…
I agree with what Steve says 👍🏻
Use foreflight to get his number, assuming he has ADS-B out. What a prick pilot.
I received a noise complaint from this airport authority this year. Said I made noise at night. Also reported my
N-number. My 65 horse, non electric Cub was in its hangar in Minnesota. BTW, aircraft’s been disassembled the past five years.
I spent six years on the local airport advisory board and one year over 90 percent of noise complaints came from one individual located seven miles away. It’s hard to reconcile that kind of intensity with realistic noise issues. Same here.
A common issue at many smaller airports. One answer is to include a navigation easement around the airport and ensure it’s built into the real estate transaction inside the easement area.
Jets generally don’t cause noise complaints since they are actually pretty quiet and are out of the area quickly.
We pilots can be respectful in how we do training flights by extending the pattern a little.
Want to bet that the zoning authority approved changing the clear-space around the airport (typically for noise and safety provisions) to residential use so the city/county could increase tax revenue? This is usually done because the developers can build on flat land (near the airport) cheaper than other places. So the reality of the situation is new homeowners want the pre-existing airport to (eventually) go away which will lead to more rezoning, more residential construction, and more tax money for the city/county. Of course this will all be solved when we have eVTOLs we fly to work every day because they won’t make any noise, won’t be dangerous, won’t run into each other like automobiles do, and will be available for $350 / month on a 2-year lease. Noise complaints are the result of a planning board or commission that won’t consider the necessity of general aviation at least as important as tax revenue.
Noise, noise! What about the rednecks driving around in their Pontiacs without mufflers, how about the idiots in their boom box cars that vibrate everyone within a thousand feet, what about the near constant drone of aging adolescents on their Harley Davidson motorcycles on otherwise nice days, and what about the little twerps and their souped up Japanese cars with ear shattering exhaust pipes? Pilots, it’s time that we stop bending over every time some spoiled and entitled little jerk picks up the phone.
My guess is the expensive homes [ $800k- $900k], that are about 3/4 mile off the end of rwy 14…?
The airpark was established in 1960…when were the homes built ?
I’ll bet the complaints are for the 5 jets based there.?
There are 369,000 households in Montgomery County and 42 of them complained about airport noise. And yet the County Council did not have the backbone to tell these 42 households to take a chill pill. And why would that be? Oh yeah, guess which party ALL these Council members belong to…
You get what you vote for.
I live in East Village and I agree air traffic and noise levels have increased especially on the weekends. This is a highly populated area. The air park should be moved to a less populated area of Moco.
Might go to council with an offer for the offended residents to pay for new airport, and a guarantee future new residents there won’t create the same problem again.
The majority of the money for Airports are funded by the federal government
I don’t think it’s a political issue People just need to have a little respect!
If it’s the wealthier households doing the complaining, yeah I can guess which party they belong to.
Democrats hate airplanes. That’s just a fact. See Santa Monica, see San Jose, also see the anti-air travel obsession of left wing activists. Also remember Meigs? None of these locales are Republican. Republican areas typically have pretty good relationships with aviation — relatively speaking.
Right. Because a wealthy Republican would NEVER complain about airplane noise over their expensive house!
So right You’re, Phill.
Right. The wealthiest neighborhoods are rarely located at the end of the runway. That’s because better off folks (including many pilots) can afford to live in quieter places, so they do.
So why did they build a well to do neighborhood south of KTYQ under the ILS approach? Why was it we were told to now make use of the calm and cross-wind runway (36) and not 18? Because north of the airport is still ag land.
Well, because of problems at KEYE (noise related), I go to KTYQ to do night pax currency since the runway is long enough that I can do stop and go. And if the winds are out of the south….
And Indiana has laws about signing a notice that one lives within 10(?) miles of an airport.
Just say’n’.
I lean a bit to the left and have my own airplane. Not everything is about which political party someone is affiliated with.
Sounds like BS to me
I am a Democrat under a runway. Oh and I am pilot too, guess you’re stereotype is wrong?
BTW, the super rich GOP stronghold Ocean Reef requires a 2 mile final and upwind so you don’t pass over their homes making noise.
Brian Take your political BS somewhere else.
You play the same tune every time: Dems suck. (That’s your answer to everything.) Instead, let’s try acknowledging that frequent loud airplane noise over people’s houses is unpopular with people of all political persuasions—including pilots! I’m a pilot who deliberately does not live under a traffic pattern. You might be one too. Why? Because planes are noisy! And it can get grating after a while for many people. Let’s be honest about it. Yes, people who bought or rented a home under a traffic pattern should have known better. But people are dumb. We all know that. Turning everything into a political mud fight is ripping the country apart. We need to acknowledge the issue is real and work on solutions (no touch and goes, for example) vs just making other people ‘bad’ so you can feel better about yourself. Merry Christmas to all!
I agree with what Derek says it just takes a few inconsiderate people to ruin it for Everybody