MSP Noise Oversight Committee May Updates

The Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport (MSP) Noise Oversight Committee (NOC) met on May 20, 2020 and discussed the City of Eagan procedure requests (see below), the 2019 MSP Actual Noise Contour Report and were provided an updated on the status of the environmental review for Converging Runway Operations (CRO) by the FAA. 

Eagan Procedure Requests

Per FAA recommendations, MAC staff initiated further analysis of two Eagan procedure modification requests, referred to as Request 1 and Request 4, using the Aviation Environmental Design Tool (AEDT). Request 1 was modeled to move about 9 flights from Runway 17 to Runway 12L. This change would result in only minor changes to DNL (Day-Night Average Sound Level) and would be more consistent with the MSP Runway Use System (RUS). Based on the analysis conducted and presented at the meeting, the NOC concluded that Request 1 should be pursued further, with the amendment that both Runways 12L and 12R be considered in the request. The NOC unanimously approved the amended request. Request 4 was modeled to redirect about 3 flights from the parallel runways to Runway 17 at night. This change would result in up to a 1.7 dB DNL increase in areas over the City of Bloomington. Because of these modeling results, Request 4 was not recommended for further consideration. The next step in this process is consideration by the MAC Commission before being referred back to the FAA.

Next NOC Meeting

NOC meetings are open to everyone, and anyone may offer comments at each meeting. The next NOC meeting will be on July 15, 2020 at 1:30pm and may be held via teleconference.