Weather, not neighborhoods, dictates direction planes take off and land

I live south of the airport and I am aware of periods of increased air traffic (military, commercial and private). The current runway construction may be causing variation from the usual traffic patterns, but in “normal” times, is there an official policy that determines the amount of traffic that flies over the southern and northern residential areas adjacent to the airport? I am interested to know if there is an attempt by airport authorities to be equitable in the sharing of takeoff and landing noise pollution between the two neighborhoods.
- Jeff

ANSWER: It’s not about sharing the noise between neighborhoods, it’s all about the weather, said the airport’s aviation director Mark Earle. "The runways are fixed alignments, and the alignment of this airport was determined decades ago. “You can land or take off in either direction, and both approaches are used. What drives the decision is the weather.

"Aircraft will take off into the wind because it reduces the speed the aircraft must maintain to take off . To aircraft, wind is relative. With the winds behind you, you fly a faster air speed if flying down wind. Pilots take off into the wind. The air traffic controllers choose the runways as they align with the wind and the pilots make the final decision.”

When work is completed on the closed runway, possibly by May 1, the air traffic will be spread out more, Earle said. Earle said housing developments near the airport will see, or hear, more or less traffic depending on the weather. “Airports have noise associated with them, there’s no avoiding that. “The amount of land we purchased around the airport addresses that. We own the land around the airport where the noise impact is the greatest.”