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1 1. Last fall I was watching KARE 11 News and they had a report that one of the runways was closing. The next week is when we started to receive the excessive noise or sound levels from the airplanes. I ve been tracking this for a long time and every three minutes we hear a rumbling in the sky, it s really constant and I feel like I live in a war zone to be honest with you. What was the catalyst for this change? I ve been living there since 2010 and airplane noise has been infrequent and now it s excessive so there has to be some reason why the flight pattern is always consistently the same. I can tell you, I can see these planes right outside my window; there s a flight pattern that goes to the south side of Lake Calhoun and the other pattern goes over Linden Hills and over Lake Harriet. So what is the reason why did they decide to change this flight pattern? Why aren t there more variations in the flight patterns so we can have some relief from the sound? There s something going on and people aren t being up-forward and honest with us as to why this is happening. It s unfortunate and I don t have any choice but to sell my house because I m not going to wait years for this problem to be fixed. I haven t complained on your website but last night I went to your fast tracker and there are 2 distinct flight patterns. Why isn t there any variation? That just seems to be ridiculous. Plus the airplanes are flying at a really low elevation and there doesn t seem to be any variation with that. I m home majority of the time so...for people who work during the day they don t really have to experience this but it is a really frustrating situation. The news report you reference is relating to what is referred to as Converging Runway Operations (CRO). The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in response to a National Traffic Safety Board (NTSB) recommendation determined that in instances when two runways that do not physically cross, but cause a point in the airspace beyond the end of the runways where aircraft may converge, that special rules need to be instituted to increase the level of safety. At the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP) these rules apply to aircraft that are departing on Runways 30L and 30R with aircraft that are arriving on Runway 35.

2 The FAA discontinued use of Runway 35 in late uly 2015 to allow for the new rules to be implemented. In late August, the FAA began using the runway with the new rules in place. The Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC) in general, and Noise Program Office in particular are monitoring how the new rules may be affecting how the traffic is being distributed as a result of the new procedures. The new CRO requirements have not changed how the airport is being operated when arrivals are approach the airport from the north and northwest of MSP. The rules are only applicable when the aircraft are approaching the airport from the south and southeast and departing to the north and northwest. When the airport traffic is reversed and aircraft are approaching from the northwest over St. Louis Park and Minneapolis, CRO rules do not have to be used and thusly do not impact traffic in this direction. The arrival flight patterns in these areas have not changed. The pilots flying the aircraft at MSP and every airport will align the plane with the extended runway centerline many miles away from the airport to establish a constant level and controlled descent to the runway pavement. This portion of air travel has not changed in decades. What has changed recently is the amount of time that MSP is in a South Flow Configuration. MSP, like all airports, have numerous air traffic configurations to allow aircraft to arrive and depart with as much headwind as possible. In this way, the prevailing wind has a major impact on where aircraft are overflying. When winds at this airport are blowing from the south and southeast, the airport will be in a South Flow Configuration. In this configuration, aircraft will arrive from the northwest and depart to the south and southeast. This is the flight pattern you described in your comments. The airport recently has experienced many weeks with south and southeast winds. Consequently, the FAA chooses the South Flow Configuration to allow for the safest operation possible. I have used our flight track data to determine the level of flight activity you are experiencing near your home. The following chart shows the monthly total number of flights that flew within 1 mile of your home from anuary 2013 through May 19 th, 2016.

3 M S P O P E R A T I O N S 3, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , MSP OPERATIONS WITHIN 1 MILE OF RESIDENCE A R R I V A L C O U N T D E P A R T U R E C O U N T 6, , , , , , There were more flights over your area in March and April compared to previous years. At the time of your comments the airport was recording numerous consecutive days of south and east winds and resultant South flow configurations. This string ended on May 3 rd and has been more balanced lately allowing the FAA to use multiple traffic patterns. I also analyzed the altitude of aircraft flying near your residence. The majority of traffic you re your home is arrivals to Runway 12L. The following chart shows the average altitude over your home by month of every aircraft arriving to this runway.

4 A V E R A G E A L T I T U D E ( F E E T ) 1, RUNWAY 12L ARRIVALS WITHIN 1 MILE OF RESIDENCE 1 2 L A R R I V A L A L T I T U D E 1, , , , The average altitudes of aircraft over your neighborhood as they approach this runway has been strikingly consistent for the past two years; the range during this time is only 65 feet. Finally, I want to pass along some information related to your concerns and the overall message the MAC heard from those in attendance in St. Louis Park. The MAC brought the topics presented by the residents during that meeting to the members of the Noise Oversight Committee (NOC) on May 18 th. In response to these topics, the NOC amended its 2016 Work Plan. Specifically, the NOC directed staff to evaluate aircraft arrival trends to the northwest of the airport and investigate if there have been changes in the use of the airport that is causing more overflights in these communities. Further, the NOC added an item to discuss aircraft landing gear procedures and evaluate if there have been any changes to the flight crew procedures at MSP. These items are preliminarily scheduled for the September NOC meeting. Information related to the NOC can be found at 2. I have a two part question; the first part has to do with the seemingly increase in Night time operations. Those operations don t seem to follow any kind of weather pattern. It seems to be all the time, starting around 10 or 11 at night and sometimes there is a break and then it ll pick up again around 2 or 3 in the morning. There has been an increase in night time flights at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP). The Noise Program Office, in addition to the Noise Oversight Committee (NOC), identified this trend in the summer of At that time, the community members of the NOC sent a letter to all of the carriers operating at MSP, accompanied by a letter from the MAC Chairman Dan Boivin, to encourage the air carriers to limit scheduling night time flights due to the intrusive nature a flight during these hours has on

5 0:00 1:00 2:00 3:00 4:00 5:00 6:00 7:00 8:00 9:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00 A V E R A G E D A I L Y O P E R A T I O N S B Y H O U R the surrounding community. The Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC) is not legally permitted to limit this activity. The United States Congress removed any flexibility the airport operator has to restrict any flight activity with the passage of the Airport Noise and Capacity Act (1990). While this legislation did phase out louder, Stage 2 aircraft, it also eliminated the right of the airport operator to dictate what aircraft use their facility and during what times of day. There are many times of the day where the airport is quite busy and subsequent hours when there is relatively little flight activity. This traffic follows all of the same general flight patterns during the night time that are used during day time. There may be differences in traffic as less aircraft in the airspace allow for greater flexibility from the air traffic controllers. For example, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is able to utilize Opposite Flow Configuration at MSP more often at night. In this configuration, aircraft depart to the south and southeast over commercial and industrial zoned property in Eagan and Mendota Heights. Other aircraft landing at MSP will also fly from the south and southwest and land facing the opposite direction. Because there are few aircraft flying during this time of day, the FAA is able to safely coordinate traffic to operate in this manner. During the day, the amount of flights make this condition unusable. I researched all of the aircraft operations at MSP for 2016 by hour. The following chart is the average flight activity for every hour for anuary 1, 2016 through May 22, AVERAGE DAILY MSP OPERATIONS BY HOUR (AN 1, 2016 THROUGH MAY 22, 2016) A R R I V A L S D E P A R T U R E S This data encapsulates the picture of the entire airport facility. The chart shows the variability of operations throughout the day. There are hours where arrival operations are the dominant operation specifically 1:00 PM, 4:00 PM and 6:00 PM. Conversely departure hours are generally experienced during the 7:00 AM, 9:00 AM, 10:00 AM, 11:00 AM and 8:00 PM hours. During the night time hours, 11:00 PM

6 0:00 1:00 2:00 3:00 4:00 5:00 6:00 7:00 8:00 9:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00 D A I L Y A V E R A G E O P E R A T I O N S B Y H O U R has regular arrivals which subsides during the 12:00 AM hour. There are 3.3 hourly arrivals in the 4:00 AM hour. 5:00 AM is when the airport has seen the largest increase in night time flights. I also recreated the above chart for your area, selecting only flights that flew within one mile of your home. Using both the data above and the chart for your neighborhood, I could not find any average variability in the night time hours that you mention. While I certainly will submit that daily occurrences would not be illustrated in a graphic that focuses on average values, taking a longer view of the information allows us to identify trends that may need further research. DAILY AVERAGE MSP OPERATIONS BY HOUR WITHIN 1 MILE OF RESIDENCE (AN 1, 2016 THROUGH MAY 22, 2016) A R R I V A L S D E P A R T U R E S Related to the issue that was discussed by the previous commenter, I m wondering if this track where the airplanes seem to be, the more condensed tracks, I m wondering if that has to do with the implementation of RNAV. The previous speaker lives in an area near Lake Calhoun that has not seen any change in flight procedures as it relates to RNAV implementation. In March 2015, the FAA implemented Area Navigation (RNAV) arrival procedures at MSP. These Performance Based Navigation (PBN) routes allow aircraft to be more precise and efficient, while also allowing the FAA to provide a higher degree of safety during this critical phase of flight. The RNAV procedures have compacted traffic onto arrival routes away from the airport. The images below contrasts the differences between anuary 2015 arrivals on Runway 30R with anuary 2016 arrivals on Runway 30R. The flight track north of the airport has seen the result of the implementation. More flights are able to fly a more compact track past the airport before turning 180 back to the airport to line up with their assigned runway. This flight procedure calls for aircraft to descend from 10,000 feet northwest of the airport to 6,000 feet before making this turn.

7 The flight routes referenced by the previous commenter have not changed. The final approach phase of flight have been consistent for many years. Pilots will always line up with the runway centerline extended, ensuring the aircraft s wings are level and the descent is controlled. This segment of flight is unaffected by RNAV procedures. 4. I m a big believer in data but I m also a big believer in what I experience on a daily basis. I live on the east side of Lake Harriet and once in a while I have experiences at night seeing those airplanes come in lower. I certainly have because they re not that high above my house as they re coming over and I don t know what that decibel level is. It s certainly a lot louder when airplanes are coming in than when they re taking off from the airport. It would be also interesting to know what that range is and where those monitors are because the intensity of the airline noise, I ve lived in my house for 14 years, has dramatically increased. So I appreciate you being here and sharing the data but the other part of me is pretty skeptical simply because

8 of my experience on a daily basis and when I see these airplanes, especially in the evenings, coming in very low. We have neighborhood gatherings and BBQ s and it s getting to be so frustrating because there s so much noise coming in the evening hours. I appreciate that we can come to a meeting like this and express our concerns but it feels like there is no, you know.fed-ex will keep coming in with their big cargo planes and it is what it is. I don t see how any of this will be mitigated or changed. I m really feeling like the only option I have is to sell my house and I submitted comments and I was supposed to hear back from people at MSP and I never did and I just have a fairly high level of frustration at this point. So, thank you for listening, I appreciate it. The Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC) is committed to operating the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP) in an environmentally responsible manner. We make every effort to hear the concerns of our neighbors. This important dialogue ensures that there is communication between the airport and the citizens. Furthermore, the Noise Program Office makes every effort to respond to citizens at Public Input Meetings within one month of your remarks. For questions that are received daily, we attempt to respond within three business days. You have my sincerest apologies that you did not receive a response to comments you previously submitted. I also rely on millions of data points to help tell the story of aircraft flights in this community. Our system fuses data from flight tracks, noise monitors and citizen complaints to attempt to have a complete narrative on this subject matter. Using this data, we are able to provide relevant information for individual locations. Using this system, I analyzed flight tracks between anuary 1, 2013 and May 22, 2016 that flew within ½ mile of your home.

9 M S P O P E R A T I O N S 3, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , MSP OPERATIONS WITHIN 1/2 MILE OF RESIDENCE 7, A R R I V A L C O U N T D E P A R T U R E C O U N T 6, , , , , , The blue bars above represent all arrivals near your home. Based on your location, this will be primarily inbound to Runway 12L. The departures are depicted using the gray bars. These flights are typically coming from Runway 30R. This is the same runway pavement used in the opposite direction based on weather conditions. In every month you experience more arrivals than departures. The arrivals in your area all follow a very standard approach into the airport and do not deviate off the imaginary runway centerline extended. Conversely, the departures fan out as they leave the airport environment and are given specific direction headings to travel that will both keep them clear of other aircraft and begin to point them toward their final destination. The altitudes behave in a similar manner to the overall counts. The arrivals are very consistent while the departures have more variability. The departures are also higher as the aircraft attempts to gain as much altitude as possible after leaving the airport. The departures also have more deviations because of the weather. All aircraft are able to gain altitude more easily in cold, dry air. Additionally, a jet engine can produce more thrust in cold air allowing the aircraft to lift off from the runway earlier. Consequently, the chart shows higher departure altitudes in the winter months.

10 A V E R A G E A L T I T U D E ( F E E T ) 3, MSP OPERATIONS WITHIN 1/2 MILE OF RESIDENCE A R R I V A L A L T I T U D E D E P A R T U R E A L T I T U D E 2, , , , , , , , Based on your comments, I thought it would be important to look closer at the altitudes. Because you have more Runway 12L arrivals near your residence than any other operation, I focused on this specific runway. In the following chart, I compared the average altitude of day time flights near your neighborhood against the average altitude of flights at night. Your assertion that flights are lower at night is true. Over the past 3 ½ years, the night flights are 32 feet lower than the day time flights. The day flights average 1,101 feet while the night flights are at 1,069 feet above the ground.

11 A V E R A G E A L T I T U D E ( F E E T ) 1, , , , , , MSP ARRIVALS WITHIN 1/2 MILE OF RESIDENCE 1 2 L A R R I V A L D A Y A L T I T U D E 1 2 L A R R I V A L N I G H T A L T I T U D E The previous two charts led me to one more observation related to altitudes. The seasonal variations of altitudes during the arrival flights have become more muted beginning in the winter months of The higher altitudes in the winter are not as high while the lower altitudes in the summer are not as low. I took a very long view of this to determine the net effect in your area. This subtle change has done two things. First, it has made arriving altitudes extremely consistent. Over the past two calendar years, the difference in months has only been 58 feet. Second, the annual average altitude of arriving aircraft in your area has never been higher. While it is only a minor increase around fifty feet the increase has been sustained for two full years.

12 A O A O A O A O A O A O A O A O A O A M S P O P E R A T I O N S MSP 12R ARRIVALS WITHIN 1/2 MILE OF RESIDENCE 1, , , , A N N U A L A R R I V A L A L T I T U D E A R R I V A L A L T I T U D E 1, , My last subject matter is related to our Remote Monitoring Tower (RMT) information. The closest tower to your home is RMT 2, which is in the area of Fremont and 43 rd Street. This location is less than ½ mile from your home. This RMT, as well as the 38 other locations, are continuously observing sound levels from all sources. When the sound level rises above 65 decibels (dba) and remains above 63 dba for 8 seconds, an event is recorded. Our system then determines if the event was an aircraft or not. If an aircraft flew within 3500 meters (2.2 miles) of the RMT location at or below 2000 meters (6,560 feet) and within 30 seconds, the event is attributed to that aircraft. My last chart displays the number of aircraft events over 65 dba at RMT 2 back to This number is compared to the total number of arrivals to those runways. Not surprising, when the arrivals for Runways 12L and 12R increase, so do the total number of events. The events at RMT 2 are driven by the arrival operations. Nearly every arrival to Runway 12L flies near RMT 2. Many of the departures from the same pavement, Runway 30R, make dispersal turns prior to reaching RMT 2 and thusly, may not create an event at this location.

13 A I R C R A F T S O U N D E V E N T S R U N W A Y 1 2 L, 1 2 R A R R I V A L O P E R A T I O N S 6000 AIRCRAFT SOUND EVENTS OVER 65 DECIBELS AT RMT 2 A R R I V A L E V E N T S D E P A R T U R E E V E N T S M S P A R R I V A L S 1 2, , , , , , Finally, I want to pass along some information related to your concerns and the overall message the MAC heard from those in attendance in St. Louis Park. The MAC brought the topics presented by the residents during that meeting to the members of the Noise Oversight Committee (NOC) on May 18 th. In response to these topics, the NOC amended its 2016 Work Plan. Specifically, the NOC directed staff to evaluate aircraft arrival trends to the northwest of the airport and investigate if there have been changes in the use of the airport that is causing more overflights in these communities. Further, the NOC added an item to discuss aircraft landing gear procedures and evaluate if there have been any changes to the flight crew procedures at MSP. These items are preliminarily scheduled for the September NOC meeting. Information related to the NOC can be found at 5. So when you look up our driveway you see the Southern parallel runway on a Northern flow. What I was wondering is, you mentioned earlier about MAC subsidies having additional ones. When you say additional do you mean expanding out the area or are customers who have already had a MAC upgrade, are they eligible for a second one? Both conditions are true. The geographic area that is eligible for residential sound insulation is expanding. Additionally, some homes that participated in previous sound insulation programs will be eligible for further upgrades. Based on the terms of an amended legal agreement between the MAC and the cities of Richfield, Minneapolis, Eagan, and the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority, the MAC has agreed to provide mitigation to any home provided the home is located, for a period of three consecutive years in the actual DNL noise contour published in the Annual Noise Contour Analysis report, and, within a higher noise impact mitigation area when compared to the home's status under the noise mitigation program prior to the amendment.

14 Additionally, if a home was in the DNL contour and previously received mitigation it will be eligible for further improvements if it moves into the 63+ contour area. This is the section that applies to your property. The block you are on received partial mitigation as a part of a previous program. In the future, if this block moves into the 63+ DNL contour level for three consecutive years, it will be eligible for further mitigation. The actual noise contour levels are determined by March 1 of each year. To easily determine if your home is currently eligible for further upgrades or if the property is located within a certain contour level, please visit our website at This section of the website has a Residential Noise Mitigation Map tool that allows a property owner to determine if their location is included in the program at this time. It also includes a description of the program and a full listing of properties that are eligible for mitigation or in their 2 nd or 1 st year of eligibility. 6. I wanted to comment on the late night flights and that the airport can t control when flights come in, when they take off nor the type of aircraft that they use. However the MAC does have some control over what they charge for their fee structure for landing and take offs. Now MSP has been known and continues to be known for having very low takeoff and landing fees. In your fee model you could devise it as such that there would be a larger fee for takeoffs and landings late at night. You could charge differently or more for the noisier aircraft, you could put in incentives where businesses would want to try to comply and perhaps do what s better for their bottom line in the same way it s better for residents. So you do have some controls. So have you been revisiting that at all or at least taking a look at what your fees are? Your previous Chairman of the MAC, who has just retired now, he was quite proud of the low fees that MSP had. Other cities have high fees for noisier aircraft and the late night flights. Have you considered that? Thank you for your suggestion to encourage quieter aircraft to operate at MSP at times that are less intrusive on the community. Unfortunately, the MAC does not have the ability to charge differential rates on a basis of aircraft type or time of day. Since MSP is a public-use airport, the MAC cannot restrict access to aircraft operations. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) prohibits public-use airports from charging differential fees for the purpose of controlling noise exposure, without going through a Part 161 Study and approval process with the FAA. Under a Part 161 Study, the FAA requires that the proposer adequately qualify six statutory conditions with substantial evidence. The six statutory conditions are: 1. the restriction is reasonable, nonarbitrary, and nondiscriminatory; 2. the restriction does not create an undue burden on interstate or foreign commerce; 3. the restriction is not inconsistent with maintaining the safe and efficient use of the navigable airspace; 4. the restriction does not conflict with a law or regulation of the United States; 5. an adequate opportunity has been provided for public comment on the restriction; and 6. the restriction does not create an undue burden on the national aviation system. Unfortunately, the use of a differential fee structure for noise control efforts would fail the first criteria as it discriminates against an aircraft that in every other way is certificated to fly in this country. The 1990 Airport Noise and Capacity Act was created, in part, to standardize aircraft noise planning efforts. Many local communities and states had begun imposing restrictions on aircraft and managing

15 FEB SEP NOV FEB SEP NOV FEB SEP NOV FEB A V E R A G E A L T I T U D E ( F E E T ) noise planning without federal guidance, leading to a patchwork of restrictions at airports across the United States. This act established a federal framework for airports to manage noise exposure, but also eliminated an airport operator s ability to impose new restrictions without receiving approval as a part of a Part 161 submission. Airports that had restrictions in place prior to the 1990 legislation were allowed to maintain them. To date only 39 different Part 161 applications have been submitted with the FAA and only one was approved after multiple litigation efforts were undertaken. 7. I would just like to say over the last year the night flights have gotten louder and a lot of times it s a low rumble. I m wondering if they re coming in lower. To be sleeping deeply and at 3, 4, 5 in the morning be startled awake. One night I thought a plane was landing on my house and that also makes me also worry about my safety. If they are that low, and there s a problem, what happens? There s something very different, very loud and very frightening. Aircraft arriving toward the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP), are on a consistent and controlled descent. During the critical approach and landing phase of flight the aircraft at MSP operate very similarly, regardless of performance characteristics. These similarities have become even more homogenous recently. The traffic mix at MSP is dominated by airline traffic; these aircraft fly very standardized routes and arrival procedures. Similar to the other residents at the meeting, I have investigated average altitudes of aircraft that have flown within ½ mile of your home. There has been a very minor change in altitudes. The higher winter altitudes are not as high, while the low summer altitudes are no longer as low. The altitudes of aircraft near your home over the past 18 months is amazingly consistent, having deviated less than 100 feet total during that time span. The following chart shows the average monthly and annual altitude of arrivals near your property back to , RUNWAY 12L AND 12R ARRIVALS WITHIN 1/2 MILE OF RESIDENCE A N N U A L A R R I V A L A L T I T U D E M O N T H L Y A R R I V A L A L T I T U D E 1, , , , , , , , Finally, I want to pass along some information related to your concerns and the overall message the MAC heard from those in attendance in St. Louis Park. The MAC brought the topics presented by the residents

16 during that meeting to the members of the Noise Oversight Committee (NOC) on May 18 th. In response to these topics, the NOC amended its 2016 Work Plan. Specifically, the NOC directed staff to evaluate aircraft arrival trends to the northwest of the airport and investigate if there have been changes in the use of the airport that is causing more overflights in these communities. Further, the NOC added an item to discuss aircraft landing gear procedures and evaluate if there have been any changes to the flight crew procedures at MSP. These items are preliminarily scheduled for the September NOC meeting. Information related to the NOC can be found at 8. I feel for your concerns. I go back to 2011 when things changed drastically for the Standish- Ericson neighborhood as well Lake Hiawatha and Nokomis area because of a near collision situation that caused the take offs to change dramatically. I m in south Minneapolis so we re mostly concerned about take offs and you all here in St Louis Park are concerned about the landings. I just want to reiterate what Chad said, the MAC and Chad were very helpful for the neighborhoods to the best that they could be. They have a tremendous amount of data available, willing to share it, create charts, and create graphs for us. We talked about altitude, we talked about frequency of flights over particular neighborhoods and so on. One thing I would like you to comment on is the night time, since night time is a real concern for St Louis Park, your charts said the window was 10pm-7am but in the presentation you said the MAC uses 10:30pm-6:30 am. So it s a much smaller window by a full hour and that s pretty important. The MAC website does have a tremendous amount of information and I would tell you that the MAC really can t do a whole lot for us. They can report, they can suggest, they monitor but the FAA and our Senators and Representatives in Washington are the people to continue to write to with your complaints and to ask for help if the FAA is ever going to change this noise contour thing and ever going to monitor through that. Because of the winds, I think the flights over South Minneapolis have perhaps been a little bit less over the last couple years but one things is happening, while the operations are down the size of the airplane fleets increased. So while engine noise is coming down with a newer generation of airplane, the airplanes are getting bigger, overall, fleet wise so maybe it s a wash at this point. If you can talk to one thing, I know over the last few years, we talked about landings, there was supposed to be a new profile created that was supposed to lessen noise and bring the airplane in on a different profile. If you can speak to a few points I made about night time operations and this landing thing and so on. I appreciate all you did 5-6 years ago, MAC is responsive if you ask the right questions and you ask for specific data for your particular spot and you ll learn a lot of the couple years. Thank you for your sentiment about the role of MAC in this discussion. We are continually using our data to work closely with the airlines and the FAA to find a balance between an important airport asset and the impact it has on the surrounding community. The nighttime period from 10:30 pm to 6:00 am reflects the MAC s voluntary nighttime restrictions at MSP and its six reliever airports with recommended procedures for operations that occur during these hours. The MAC has requested the MSP air carriers "put forth [their] best efforts to avoid scheduling operations between the nighttime hours of 10:30 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. and avoid the use of louder, modified Stage 3 aircraft for flights that are scheduled to occur during the nighttime hours."

17 You have correctly observed that the fleet using MSP is slowly changing. The demand for air travel continues to rise in this community. Passenger counts have never been higher. Fortunately, the number of operations at MSP have not risen by similar amounts. Instead, the airlines are flying bigger aircraft, and they are filling them closer to capacity. The airlines are making fleet choices to align with this trend. Delta Air Lines is the biggest carrier at MSP. Delta has recently announced a handful of future aircraft order commitments. Delta is taking delivery of new Airbus A321 aircraft and recently announced plans to add the Bombardier CS100 aircraft into its fleet. The A321 will in part replace both MD-80 and Boeing 757 aircraft. Neighbors living under the flight paths associated with MSP have expressed their eagerness for Delta to discontinue using MD80 aircraft at MSP. Not only are the A321 aircraft quieter, they are 25% more fuel efficient and roomier for passengers. More exciting from the Noise Office perspective is the introduction of the CS100 into the MSP fleet. This airplane is powered by the Pratt & Whitney 1500G engines. This new geared turbofan engine technology from Pratt and Whitney will allow the CS100 to be up to 20 db quieter than today s FAA Stage 4 noise standards. The arrival flight procedures over St. Louis Park and Minneapolis have not changed with the implementation of RNAV arrival procedures. The aircraft in these areas are flying traditional approaches using existing glideslope technology. Further away from MSP, all jet aircraft, old and new, are flying new arrival procedure profiles into MSP. Optimized Profile Descents (OPD) are a major improvement realized from the implementation of Performance Based Navigation (PBN) procedures by the FAA. OPD s allow an aircraft to descend to the airport at both a more consistent rate and at idle engine power. Previously, aircraft would descend and level off multiple times while approaching an airport. These level off periods would require the pilot to increase engine power to maintain the altitude assigned. While the benefits from noise reduction may be limited, the emission reduction benefit is encouraging. The MAC Noise Program Office, in partnership with the FAA and the airlines, is developing an application to determine how many aircraft are utilizing these procedure to quantify just how much the new procedures are reducing emissions. 9. I ve been struck as I listen to you, all of the things you have said that the MAC does, none of them have you mentioned to factor taking in account resident feedback. My question is, what do you do with the data when people later give you grave concerns in meetings like this or whether they put complaints in on the website or any other way. What do you do with all that information besides tally it and can you point to any decisions that the MAC has made that have appreciably improved the noise situation for residents that are at least partially attributable to the feedback that you get from residents? Operational changes from Public Input Meetings, open forums, noise complaints and resident concerns are not always possible. That does not mean these activities are not important. It does not mean resident concerns fall on deaf ears. It does not mean there is no recourse. The opposite is in fact true. Public input is required for our office to continue to make improvements in this arena. Aircraft noise has many different entities involved and is ever changing. Changes are made gradually and concerns cannot always be remedied. This office will continue to listen to the community and will always strive to make improvements when possible. To that end, the Noise Program Office is currently undergoing an evaluation of all of our outreach efforts to determine how we can better meet the realistic needs of our stakeholders.

18 Beyond the specific cases that were presented during the meeting, public input continues to drive many of the Noise Program Office activities. The Public Input Meeting process is a function of the MSP Noise Oversight Committee (NOC). The NOC uses the content of these meetings to formulate their annual work plan. In fact, the NOC took action to make additions to the 2016 Work Plan based on feedback from residents at the April 27 Public Input Meeting. The MAC staff brought the topics presented by the residents during this meeting to the members of the NOC on May 18 th. In response to these topics, the NOC directed staff to evaluate aircraft arrival trends to the northwest of the airport and investigate if there have been changes in the use of the airport that is causing more overflights in these communities. Further, the NOC added an item to discuss aircraft landing gear procedures and evaluate if there have been any changes to the flight crew procedures at MSP. These items are preliminarily scheduled for the September NOC meeting. Information related to the NOC can be found at I ve lived in my area for almost 20 years and I would say the sound has changed. In some ways better, the throttle pulling-we don t get that boom. I don t know what it was called but it was horrible. I don t know why you fly over water since it tends to amplify noise, go to the boundary waters and drop a canoe paddle in a metal canoe and you know that. One of the things I m glad you do, is take this information and find out what patterns or noise because there are two separate kinds of planes in this landing pattern are causing a low rumble. It s obviously not subsonic but it s low enough that it s shaking the houses. That s happening at night so I don t know what plane that is but there are other times during the day and they look like a DC-9. You say there are no DC-9s so whatever has the tail engines, those planes are making a low rumble noise and is a very large plane. So I guess I need to ID my planes and then call. One of the suggestions, if you are getting all this noise information that would be helpful, sometimes if you can plan that s helpful instead of not knowing when these planes are going to be so loud. Much like how you can look up a pollen count and say ok this is going to be a really bad day to go out and have a picnic. You guys can tell when the wind is going this way and out flights are going to be worse you can have a flight pattern of different colors so we know we won t want to be outside and invite everyone over for a BBQ that day because it s going to be horrible. Maybe then we won t get so mad because we can plan. The flight tracks that aircraft fly at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP) are controlled by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The FAA does take into account the land that is under a flight procedure. Flying over water is preferred to flying over a neighborhood when possible. Due to the requirements related to aircraft performance and safety, the FAA does not always have the flexibility to not overfly water or neighborhoods. The runway orientation is the foundational item used when a flight procedure is being created. All arriving aircraft are going to line up with the runway centerline extended. In your case, if you draw a straight line from the Runway 12R runway centerline to the northwest, it would be drawn very close to your neighborhood. Consequently, many of the aircraft that arrive on this runway will fly near your home during their approach to MSP. The aircraft you are referring to is more than likely the MD-80. This is one of the louder, mainline, narrow body aircraft at MSP. It looks very similar to the DC-9. Unfortunately, it also looks very similar to the MD- 90, which by comparison is a relatively quiet aircraft. Delta has recently announced it plans to phase out operation of the MD-80 aircraft in favor of the Airbus A321 and Bombardier CS100. These new aircraft

19 are quieter and more fuel efficient than the MD-80. New additions like this and other aircraft will continue to change the sound you experience, hopefully for the better. There are many factors that are used to determine runway configurations. Safety, efficiency, wind direction and wind speed (on the surface and aloft), air traffic demand, aircraft weight, the number of inbound and scheduled outbound aircraft, noise abatement, and many other variables. Due to the variability of all of these conditions, an air traffic forecasting tool is unlikely to be accurate. Because the wind can be a driving factor in runway use decisions, I like to know the forecasted winds at MSP to help in determining future runway use. While the MAC does not endorse a product for this purpose, I personally use to estimate how the airport may be operated. This website provides forecasted surface winds every 3 hours for the next ten days. In very general terms, if the arrow is pointing up, the airport will likely be in a South Flow Configuration with arrivals in your area. If the arrow is pointing down, the traffic will likely be reversed 11. I ve been coming to these meetings for about a year and your presentation has gotten better, it s very educational. I started coming because the landings over my house, starting last summer, had clearly gotten to be a lot louder. So I was coming to get some information about what was happening there. From a letter that I got from the MAC, they did indicate that March 2015 the FAA began the RNAV program and that s kind of when things started to happen in our area. This is the first time I came to a meeting and we talked about the landing pattern and clearly that is what has been happening here. I have a folder full of letters from the MAC and the FAA, who all refer me back to the MAC to be quite truthful, indicating that nothing has changed. All you data says that nothing has changed so I would just offer that it very frustrating to come here with a room full of people who are telling you it has changed, something has changed and the recent months and years. Then to have you send me data that says nothing has changed so you don t know what my problem is. I would just offer that clearly it has changed and I m hearing the landing and dissenting activity has changed so I would just ask that you dig a little deeper and help us understand that. Maybe then to your point about assisting, perhaps there is an opportunity for you to take this information back and I realize you don t have any control over that and you don t have any ability to affect change there but you guys are a conduit; perhaps you can help us reach the FAA. I did, as was suggested, wrote to my Senator, wrote to the FAA and they all referred me back to you so I would like you to help us, you know be a conduit to the FAA. Maybe you can help get them in here so they can hear what s going on and help us actually change rather than just talk about it. To be quite truthful, I m a little frustrated coming to these because I don t see the value because it doesn t really affect change. So if we can get some people in here so we can actually have some conversations about how to change what s been done here. I get that you say its wind. I ve lived in my house for 20 years and I venture to guess that the wind has blown in that direction one other time in the time that I ve lived there but I ve never noticed that I can t be in my backyard as much as I have since this implementation in March Not to only mention the noise but I m telling you I ve never seen as many planes go over my house. Clearly you ve indicated the flight patterns for landing have really come in and that is a change that has been affecting us. I would offer that you assist us in working with the FAA, set that type of meeting up so we can really have a change rather than just having these conversations. The other thing I would like to ask is-where are the monitoring stations out here in Minnetonka where you will be monitoring the noise levels? I

20 don t know if there are any out that far but here we are way far out from the airport and we re having problems with the airplane noise that we ve never had before. Thank you for comments about the presentation. We updated our materials to bring clarity to a few essential messages. Additionally, the Noise Program Office is undertaking a full audit of our outreach efforts. Our goal is to evaluate how we can better engage with the community on this important topic. Results of this evaluation should be available in late 2016 with changes reaching the public beginning in The MAC Noise Program Office staff certainly does not mean to minimize any differences in flight activity you have experienced in your area. My previous correspondence with you and my comments during the meeting in April are correct. There have not been any changes to the flight procedures since the FAA implemented Area Navigation (RNAV) Standard Terminal Arrival Route (STAR) procedures in March For the past 14 months, the flight procedures have been unchanged. The tracks over the ground, the altitudes that the aircraft fly, and operating procedures have not been altered. Based on your location, you primarily experience overflights from aircraft that are arriving to MSP for Runways 12L and 12R. What may be different is how often these particular runways are being used. In previous letters, I highlighted the change in operations in September 2015 that resulted from record warm temperatures and south winds. November 2015 experienced similar, albeit muted abnormal conditions. March and April followed this change as well. To further illustrate these, please note the chart below. In September of 2015, Runways 12L and 12R handled 68% of all arrivals to MSP. November was recorded at 62%. March and April saw arrivals on these runways 56% and 65% of the time. Any change you are experiencing is more than likely due to this shift in runway use. This runway use has been noted by MAC staff and presented to the FAA for their review. The MAC Noise Program Office produces a monthly Runway Use System (RUS) Report to keep abreast of potential changes in the use of the facility and resultant flight tracks. The data contained within is presented to the Noise Oversight Committee (NOC) at every bi-monthly meeting for their review.

21 4, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,114 4, , , , , P E R C E N T O F A R R I V I N G F L I G H T S T H A T U S E D R U N W A Y 1 2 L O R 1 2 R 6, , , , , , , , , ,137 7, , , , , , , T O T A L R U N W A Y 1 2 L A N D 1 2 R A R R I V A L S MSP ARRIVALS USING RUNWAYS 12L OR 12R 70% 1 2 L A N D 1 2 R A R R I V A L S P E R C E N T O F A L L A R R I V A L S 60% 9, , , , , % 8, , % 30% 20% 1 0, , , , % 2, % The changes that you and the other attendees at the Public Input Meeting highlighted has been heard by the MAC and the NOC. The MAC brought the topics presented by the residents during that meeting to the members of the NOC on May 18 th. In response to these topics, the NOC amended its 2016 Work Plan. Specifically, the NOC directed staff to evaluate aircraft arrival trends to the northwest of the airport and investigate if there have been changes in the use of the airport that is causing more overflights in these communities. Further, the NOC added an item to discuss aircraft landing gear procedures and evaluate if there have been any changes to the flight crew procedures at MSP. These items are preliminarily scheduled for the September NOC meeting. Information related to the NOC can be found at I want to reiterate that what we re hearing is you saying that nothing has changed and we re all here telling you that yes it has changed. We feel like you re not hearing us. Feels like we re here to tell you something has changed and you keep saying nothing has changed and I don t understand that. I can appreciate that you are experiencing aircraft overflights differently. My comments during the meeting were intended to assure the residents assembled that the routes into the airport have not changed since the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) implemented Area Navigation (RNAV) Standard Terminal Arrival Route (STAR) procedures in March These routes did change the overflights some