July 2024 New Runway 19 GPS Approach Procedure for DCA scheduled for publication this Thursday July 11
UPDATE: July 8, 2024
New Runway 19 GPS Approach Procedure for DCA scheduled for publication this Thursday July 11
Hopeful news! The FAA is still scheduled to publish a new Runway 19 GPS approach procedure for DCA this Thursday, July 11, 2024.
This is the noise-mitigation procedure that our aviation consultant Vianair helped to develop and the DCA Community Working Group (CWG) voted to approve in July 2021. The new procedure is the direct result of 8+ years of advocacy and persistence on the part of Montgomery County Quiet Skies Coalition members – thank you all for your many contributions to this effort!
The new procedure is expected to reduce the number of approaches that fly in a channelized manner over our communities and to create more variability in the flight tracks. It will begin at the DARIC waypoint, which is being moved from Glen Echo, MD to the river’s edge of the CIA campus in Langley, VA. It is also expected to cut down significantly on the use of the particularly impactful LDA-Z procedure that flies inland over Brookmont. Over 90% of carriers are equipped to fly the new procedure.
We are all eager for some relief from the relentless noise. Given that DCA operates in a south flow configuration (when MoCo communities are impacted by approaches) about 40% of the time, and given that it will take the Air Traffic Controllers time to get comfortable using the new procedures, it’s possible (if not likely) that you may not notice the difference immediately.
We hope to provide concrete data about the change as soon as the procedure has been in place long enough for meaningful data to be collected and analyzed. The FAA has offered to share traffic data pre- and post- publication of the new procedure. In addition to this, we anticipate that Vianair will provide some post-implementation analysis of changes to the noise footprint of approaching aircraft in the coming months.
Please send us your impressions over the coming weeks and months, and thanks again for your support as we have all worked toward this day for nearly 8 years!
