A Quieter Airport?

The Maryland Aviation Administration has plans to sell off excess property around BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport that it acquired over the years as part of a noise zone program. According to this story by Alexander Jackson in the Baltimore Business Journal, the MAA has identified 190 parcels of land that are “no longer needed as noise buffers.”

“The MAA obtained FAA approval of a reuse plan in June 2010. That approval will allow it to sell the 190 parcels over the next five years.”

I was curious to see what had changed with the airports noise so I went to the FAA website and found this noise zone map from 1998.

When I compared it to the new noise zone map I discovered one interesting development. In 1998, a large portion of the Oxford Square development in Elkridge was in the noise zone. This would have prohibited a fair amount of the projects residential development, not to mention making it an even less attractive site for a middle school.

Fortunately for David Scheffenacker, the 2007 map moves the noise zone line to just outside his development.

I suppose this means the airport has gotten quieter over the years, even as passenger traffic has increased.

And finally, just for fun, I ran across this video of airport take-offs and landings...