Living under a flight path

How to Check an Address

The easiest way to check if a house is under a flight path is to use the Federal Aviation Administration's online noise complaint system. When you visit the agency's ANCIR Portal, it will automatically scan your address for nearby airports. It will show you the correct noise complaint channel for that exact location, whether the local airport or FAA itself.

The FAA says the noise Portal is the preferred way to contact the agency's Aircraft Noise Ombudsman, charged with responding to noise concerns. The web form includes address, date and time, and what kind of noise you are hearing. The FAA says this "helps us to investigate and respond to your concerns." The portal is also the public gateway to the agency's noise-related complaint database, which it publishes as the ANCIR Portal. You can input a community or address and see other recent complaints near it—and which agency or third parties were included in the response.

Why Neighborhoods Vary

But using the FAA portal might not tell you everything about a home's actual aircraft noise exposure. The FAA says noise levels "can vary greatly over very short distances." That's because so much depends on flight routes, sectors and procedure rules at the airport serving a specific home.

When a home is under a commercial flight path, for instance, aircraft might be arriving or departing, and have different noise profiles depending on the runway and taxi pattern in use. Many big airports publish their low-altitude flight paths, according to FAA records. But most others leave it for buyers to use a public map or call the airport, per the FAA's _regional noise complaint processes.

The same home might be louder at night or day, as airports move between standard versus night procedures, often relying on a single runway at length to minimize disruptions, per the FAA’s _Overviews. TECHNICAL NOTE: Finding a neighborhood's specific airport noise channels might require contacting multiple branches of the FAA, as not all airport noise complaints fall through the same path. The FAA's Inspector General report on the Airlines Noise Compliance program cited "arterial problems, including issues with resource allocation and the number of personnel" as of 2021. See FAA Inspector General Aviation Noise Complaint Review here.

How Complaints Are Ranked

The FAA says the public should contact the airport office staff or manager first when setting up complaint channels for a specific property. Many airports directly manage the complaint channel within a certain distance, funded in part by airport-passenger user fees. Those relate the airline and traveler fees that fund planned expansions at commercial airports. The FAA calls these airports "Partnering" airports.

The FAA reports that Bradley Airport is a Partnering airport within 7 miles, and Bradley International Airport Boston Logan is responsible for 20 miles. Boston Logan does not cover commercial airline noise outside 20 miles, according to FAA records, unless requests come through FAA channels, likely if the home is either far out, under a small commercial airport, or receiving military flights.

Some U.S. airports meet Partnering airport criteria and handle noise complaints locally. The FAA's Airport Noise Compliance Program is funded as part of its budget. The remaining airports respond to noise complaints generally from the FAA's Ombudsman, who reports noise complaints to the FAA's six regional offices: Alaskan, Central, Great Lakes, New England, Southwest Western-Pacific. Regional administrators take the next steps.

The FAA's ANCIR Portal compiles data from the public complaints it receives, tied to these regional offices, for potential mitigation programs. But the agency notes the portal is for "preliminary information and resources that will help you decide how to best proceed with your noise-related issue." Any serious or recurring noise should first be routed through the local airport.