Hogan Directs Frosh To Sue FAA Over New Flight Patterns At BWI, Reagan

The letter Gov. Larry Hogan sent to the office of state Attorney General Brian Frosh. Download This File

Gov. Larry Hogan's gripes with the new flight paths around BWI Marshall Airport may soon find their way into federal court.

Hogan, spurred by continued complaints by residents near BWI and Reagan National Airport, is asking state Attorney Brian Frosh to sue the Federal Aviation Administration and its head, Michael P. Huerta.

"We have heard from countless Marylanders, including many community leaders and elected officials, about this continuing problem," Hogan wrote in a letter to Frosh. "This program has made many Maryland families miserable in their own homes with louder and more frequent flights which now rattle windows and doors."

A majority of Maryland's population of about 6 million lives around the two airports. For example, there are about 2 million people living in Montgomery and Prince George's counties, which are adjacent to the nation's capital. Roughly 2.2 million live in Baltimore city, Baltimore County, Howard County and Anne Arundel County, where Baltimore's airport is located.

A spokeswoman for Frosh said the attorney general is considering a lawsuit.

"The Attorney General has been very concerned for some time about the impact of the new flight patterns on many of our citizens," Raquel Coombs, the spokeswoman, wrote in an email. "The office has been in conversations with both the Hogan administration and the FAA to address the issue."

The FAA implemented new flight paths under the NextGen program nationally in September 2014 to streamline aircraft routing for safety and fuel efficiency at airports around the country. It was fully implemented in Maryland in early 2015.

"The FAA is committed to hearing the community’s concerns and to fully and fairly consider any formal Community Roundtable-endorsed changes," the agency said in a statement. "We encouraged the Maryland Aviation Administration to create a Community Roundtable to ensure that all of the communities affected by any existing or proposed flight routes are represented."

Frosh has been involved in a number of suits against the Trump administration since the General Assembly gave him broad authority to do so. This week, he sued the administration over the decision to end a program protecting young immigrants brought into the country illegally as children. The state constitution requires Frosh to pursue cases at the governor's direction, as well.

The new flight paths, part of the Next Generation Air Transportation System (or NextGen), include lower approaches to the runway. The goal is to increase efficiency. While gate delays, level-offs, taxi-in time and taxi-out time were down at BWI in 2016, according to FAA statistics, these changes couldn't specifically be attributed to the NextGen updates.

Hogan notes Maryland wouldn't be the first to sue over the change. Late last month, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said the decision to change the routes in and out of Sky Harbor International in Phoenix was "arbitrary and capricious."

In Phoenix, residents and the city complained that the FAA did not consult sufficiently beforehand with senior city officials, elected officials or residents of the affected communities that feature Craftsman-style cottages and other vintage homes that can sell for more than $500,000.

Early last month, Hogan sent a letter to Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao demanding action on his concerns. On Aug. 3, Huerta sent Hogan a letter about the roundtable referenced in Tuesday's statement. The letter acknowledged community concerns about noise pollution, and said a project to address noise dispersion would begin in late August.

"Still, as we have explained to the Roundtable members at several meetings that the FAA has attended, reverting to the flight paths and procedures that existed prior to the implementation of the...project is not possible," Huerta wrote.

At a community meeting in May, residents vented their frustrations.

Elkridge resident Barbara Deckert said she feels like she has been living under a freeway.

“They haven't been very forthcoming about publishing noise data,” Deckert said. “I hear (the noise) all day long."

The Associated Press and WBAL-TV 11 contributed to this report.