Journal & Topics Media Group

Interim ‘Fly Quiet’ Rotation Won’t Affect DP Until Next Fall


A temporary “Fly Quiet” overnight rotation schedule, sending aircraft over Des Plaines via O’Hare Runway 22R, is expected to be postponed until fall 2019.

Interim plans, to be in place until new Runway 9C-27 is commissioned in 2020, were approved by the O’Hare Noise Compatibility Commission earlier this year. An environmental assessment of its impact, required for FAA approval and scheduled to be complete this November, is now expected to wrap up in April.

Due to the delay and ongoing repairs to other runways, Des Plaines will not be impacted by the new, eight-week rotation schedule next rotation until the end of next year.

“So that’s good for us, but when the interim starts it will be pretty bad,” said Des Plaines Ald. Malcolm Chester (6th).

Des Plaines residents were subject to overhead flights in the same configurations last year during the last of three Chicago Dept. of Aviation tests researching possible noise mitigation around O’Hare Airport. The test sent more planes over Des Plaines, Park Ridge, Glenview and Elmhurst, but most of the other 32 ONCC communities were unaffected, said Chester.

He plans to work with other ONCC representatives to petition for use of heading changes to help reduce noise for Des Plaines and other affected communities before and during the interim rotation schedule. Heading changes would divert planes away from residential communities even if runway paths are angled over them. However, they would be more effective for takeoffs, where planes could change direction shortly after hitting the right altitude.

“I think everyone pretty much agrees we should do that,” said Chester. “We just have to see how it develops.”

With heading changes, Chester hopes planes would fly over now-unused airspace in the pathway of decommissioned Runway 15/33, covering a mostly industrial area in Elk Grove Village. Some homes would still be affected, but much less than in the current plan, he told the Journal & Topics.

Support local news by subscribing to the Journal & Topics in print or online.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.