Los Angeles Sues FAA Over Plane Noise

The city of Los Angeles is suing the Federal Aviation Administration on behalf of residents in several neighborhoods after complaints that new route changes have increased noise levels.

The suit was filed on June 21 in the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

City Attorney Mike Feuer filed the suit, challenging the FAA’s recent changes that have planes landing at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) by flying over mid-city and central L.A. neighborhoods

Feuer alleges the FAA’s new landing patterns were done without proper environmental review or public input and claims the FAA hasn’t initiated public comment on new routes since 2017.

“The FAA made changes to a major flight path over Los Angeles without ever considering the environmental consequences of those actions. Then the agency sought to curtail public comment on the FAA’s own flight procedures website, including compelling members of the public to agree their input on the environmental impacts of proposed flight procedures won’t count, as a condition of commenting on those procedures in the first place,” Feuer said.

“Those decisions must not stand. We’re fighting to give L.A. residents the chance to engage on a major issue affecting their quality of life, and, ideally, to create opportunities to find real solutions to noise and other concerns. And we’re fighting for the American public’s right to have their comments on FAA actions actually matter.”

The FAA said it does not comment on pending litigation.