The FAA's Eastern Region Administrator reached out to Vianair, the aviation consultant that Loudoun County hired, to say that the FAA wants a full FAA Roundtable to be established at Dulles Airport -- instead of the more limited design team that was focused solely on Runway 30 in Loudoun County. It was the first time that the FAA responded to the county's initiatives. 

As Loudoun Now reported, the county was prepared to launch the design team in January but that will be put on hold until the roundtable process can be established. It will require the involvement of communities in Fairfax County, too. The newspaper added that Vianair's Jim Allerdice said the roundtable will involve "all the communities impacted by aircraft overflights of 3,000 feet or lower would be expected to participate. That would be a 6- to 10-mile circumference around the airport."

While establishing the roundtable will slow down the work on possible solutions for Runway 30, it could also broaden the potential solutions at Dulles, as well. An FAA Roundtable was one of the initial goals of the Loudoun Aircraft Noise Mitigation Committee, so we welcome the FAA's response and future participation.