Some Nashville-area residents say airplane noise has become intolerable in their communities, raising concerns about the effect of aviation on everyday life.
For those residents, the issue is the experience of living with aircraft overhead. Their complaints concern whether the noise makes their neighborhoods difficult places to live.
Nashville International Airport, known as BNA, is the region’s principal commercial airport and is operated by the Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority. The Federal Aviation Administration oversees the national airspace system, including air traffic control. Airport operations and the management of aircraft in flight involve different responsibilities.
Aircraft noise can vary with flight paths, runway use, weather and aircraft type. Residents’ experiences are an important part of understanding its neighborhood impact, while establishing whether noise has increased over time requires comparable measurements or flight data.