On Friday afternoon, Jan. 19, an aircraft departing Dulles International Airport declared an emergency and landed on Loudoun County Parkway near a major residential community. Fortunately, due to the skilled airmanship of the crew, there were no injuries.
There will be multiple questions about this incident, but one of them must be, “Why is Dulles sending most of their departures over residential communities when other runways are available?”
In December 2023, 73.4% of all departures took off from Runway 30, overflying Loudoun homes. Even aircraft flying to Europe are told to takeoff to the west, overfly Loudoun, and then turn east as they climb over Ashburn and Leesburg, according to data from MWAA.
In the first two days of 2024, out of a total of 639 departures, Dulles Airport released 503 flights, 79% of the total, from Runway 30 over Loudoun.
Meanwhile, Runway 01L (going north), the newest $355+ million dollar runway subsidized with significant taxpayer dollars, was only used by 14 aircraft — and they were arrivals. The runway was never used for departures, according to the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA).
That unbalanced flight dispersement exposes Loudoun to increasing noise pollution and its well-documented negative impact on cardiovascular health and sleep. But there is also the potential for a catastrophic event in the event of an emergency — like we just experienced.
This year is already highlighting these risks. First was the Alaska Airlines B-737 door panel that fell into a teacher’s yard in Oregon. Then came an aircraft crash-landing on Loudoun County Parkway. What’s next?
No one agency or group has “the lock” on the best idea for our area. Nor can the focus be exclusively on aviation safety without considering the health and safety of the people on the ground.
So, now is the time for all of the stakeholders — Loudoun communities, MWAA, FAA, Loudoun County government, United Airlines, Delta Air Lines and others — to pursue the FAA Roundtable option to discuss the safety and environmental impact of current flight tracks, and the viable alternatives, so everyone can benefit.
(This is a letter to the editor published on January 19th by the Loudoun Times-Mirror. It was written by Tom Lintner, a Brambleton resident and an aviation safety and air traffic management expert).