United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office Resources, Community, and Economic Development Division author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2011-05-24 U.S. Government Printing Office 2000-06-29 monographic deposited born digital 38 p. GA 1.13:RCED-00-74 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-74 P0b002ee180d17149 f:rc00074 DGPO 2011-05-24 2010-12-20 GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-74 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-74 RCED-00-74 Airports Noise pollution control Airline regulation Environmental monitoring Noncompliance Aircraft Airline industry Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DC) Letter Report RCED

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO: (1) described the specific noise abatement procedures at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport; (2) determined whether the airlines comply with these procedures; and (3) assessed whether local citizen groups believe that existing noise abatement procedures and penalties are effective.<p/>GAO noted that: (1) local airport procedures and federal laws contain a number of provisions designed in part to limit aircraft noise at Reagan National; (2) a nighttime noise procedure imposed by the airport authority generally permits flight operations between 10 p.m. and 7.a.m only by certain aircraft that can meet relatively strict noise limits; (3) however, aircraft that were scheduled to arrive before 10 p.m. may land later if an air traffic controller cleared them prior to 10:30 p.m.; (4) this exception recognizes that aircraft are sometimes delayed en route; (5) local airport rules require both departing and arriving flights to follow the Potomac River north and south of the airport for several miles before turning; (6) in particular, aircraft are prohibited from flying over federally protected areas in Washington, D.C., such as the Capitol and White House; (7) airport rules also require pilots of departing aircraft to reduce engine power, and thus engine noise, after reaching either a specified altitude or a certain distance from the airport, depending on the direction of the aircraft's departure; (8) the airport's noise abatement procedure incorporates the federal law that generally bars airlines from operating nonstop flights to or from an airport located more than 1,250 statute miles from Reagan National; (9) although information available from the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on the number of violations of Reagan National's noise abatement measures suggests that the airlines have generally met local requirements, certain shortcomings in MWAA's and FAA's efforts to monitor airline operations raise doubts about the extent of the airlines' actual compliance; (10) data from MWAA show that violations of that rule have decreased since the early 1990s, in part because airlines have begun to replace older, noisier aircraft with newer, quieter versions; (11) MWAA says it has a high degree of confidence that these aircraft are being operated in compliance with the noise rule; (12) although FAA's data indicate that there were very few instances of pilots' failure to follow air traffic control instructions pertaining to the flight path, FAA officials acknowledged that they generally focus only on keeping aircraft away from the federally protected areas in Washington, D.C., and do not track the number of incidents where pilots may have strayed from the flight path over local neighborhoods; and (13) local groups do not believe that existing procedures and penalties are as effective as they should be in encouraging airlines' compliance with noise abatement requirements. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-74/html/GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-74.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-74/pdf/GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-74.pdf GAO/RCED-00-74 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-74 Letter Report GAO/RCED-00-74; Reagan National Airport: Limited Opportunities to Improve; Airports Noise pollution control Airline regulation Environmental monitoring Noncompliance Aircraft Airline industry Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DC) Title 49 Section 40109 49 U.S.C. 40109 Public Law 106-181