ENVIRONMENT

Milton meeting on airplane noise draws hundreds

Fred Hanson
fhanson@patriotledger.com
An airliner flies over Cheryl Drive in Milton en route to Logan Airport.

MILTON – U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch thinks progress was made during a meeting Thursday night between Federal Aviation Administration officials and citizens who have endured increased airplane noise from a new navigation system.

“I think we had a few breakthroughs,” Lynch said after the meeting. “I’m glad the FAA heard the pain and the complaints here.’

Lynch, who dropped a proposed amendment to cut the FAA budget by $25 million in exchange for the meeting, said he plans to keep up the pressure on the agency to make changes.

“We will make life miserable for them until we get what we want,” Lynch said.

Lynch’s district includes two of the communities with a large number of aircraft noise complaints, Milton and Hull, as well as Boston neighborhoods including South Boston, Roslindale and West Roxbury.

Also attending the meeting were Lynch’s fellow Massachusetts Democrats Michael Capuano and Katherine Clark.

The crowd nearly filled the Milton High School auditorium, which has a capacity of 700, with scores of people lining up to speak. In addition to Milton residents, there was a large delegation from Hull, as well as from Boston neighborhoods and from Arlington and Belmont.

The meeting was scheduled to last two hours, but it lasted nearly twice as long.

At issue is the new, GPS-based NextGen navigation system in use at Logan Airport that has the effect of keeping incoming and outgoing flights on a narrow path, which can send flight after flight over the same location.