Airport Noise Issue Could Return in Early 2013

According to the Southwest Journal, last month's Metropolitan Airports Commission vote isn't the last local residents have heard of the airport noise issue.

MAC had voted to withhold its support for an . Local residents underneath the proposed new flight paths objected, and convinced MAC to support the FAA plan only for flights passing over parts of Eagan and the Minnesota River.

The proposal would have meant that some blocks would see a very large increase in overflights. Currently, departing airplanes follow a number of different paths, subjecting more homes to their noise than under the new flight path proposals. 

According to the Journal, the FAA will respond to MAC's attempt at compromise in the next few months, but could override MAC's decision entirely in the name of safety:

Not long ago, the airport had a major safety scare over South Minneapolis. In September 2010, a small cargo plane and an Airbus with 90 passengers took off from different runways at the same time. The control tower instructed the Airbus to turn left and head west, accidentally crossing the other plane’s path. The planes were in the clouds and neither pilot saw the other, but the Airbus captain could hear the other plane passing. They came within 50-100 feet of vertical separation, approximately 1,500 feet above the ground, a mile-and-a-half from the runway.

Read the rest at the Southwest Journal.