March 2020: MCQSC Update: Aviation Consultant Contract Awarded
Aviation Consultant
Good news! On March 19th, Arlington County and Montgomery County issued a joint announcement that the contract for airspace consultancy work was awarded to abcx2, LLC. Recently, Jim Allerdice of abcx2 has advised Montgomery County on potential measures that could mitigate regional noise exposure from approaches into DCA. We have found that Jim has relevant experience and deep knowledge about airspace operations. We appreciate his practical approach and sensitivity to the plight of communities like ours. We applaud Montgomery County and Arlington County on their selection.
MCQSC Meetings
Due to social distancing requirements, the date of the next MCQSC meeting remains TBD. However, please know that your Quiet Skies leadership team and the dedicated members of the DCA Working Group are meeting via Zoom and remain as determined and committed as ever to mitigate noise over our communities.
Some recent work includes:
● Discussions about how best to continue our efforts via the Working Group and engage the FAA at a time when we cannot meet in person;
● Regular communication with staff for Congressman Raskin and Senator Van Hollen;
● Writing a letter to the Maryland Congressional delegation on your behalf which outlines our strong objection to an airline bailout unless it includes action from the airlines that mitigates noise over American communities;
● Engagement with the National Quiet Skies group, including participation in the newly formed legislative committee;
● Coordinating a response to the GAO regarding a helicopter noise study in the DC area;
● Embarking on a redesign of our website.
Noise Complaints
We’ve been hearing from many of you that the airplane noise has been as relentless as ever despite reports of lower flight traffic due to the coronavirus. Now that many of us will be spending more time at home and in our communities, please take a moment to file a noise complaint and send a note to your neighbor to do the same. Your complaints help support our work. As a reminder, it is more important to have many people complaining versus just a few people filing many complaints. If you have yet to set up an account with MWAA, it takes less than a minute. If you have complained already today, thank you. Please note that there is a new link, so be sure to change any bookmarks on your computer. The new link is: https://viewpoint.emsbk.com/dca3
Please FILE YOUR COMPLAINT NOW AND FORWARD THIS EMAIL TO YOUR FAVORITE NEIGHBOR!
We send very best wishes during this uncertain and stressful time.