Residents claim Hartsfield-Jackson air traffic shakes homes

EAST POINT, Ga. — East Point residents tell Channel 2 Action news that planes are now shaking their homes after years of quiet, even though their neighborhood is several miles away from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

"In the middle of the night, your house is shaking. You don't know if it's an earthquake or what, and when you come to, you realize it is an airplane flying over your neighborhood," neighbor Nanette Saucier said. 

Saucier told Channel 2's Rachel Stockman she noticed the problem about a year ago but it has gotten worse in the last few months.

Saucier, who lives on Briarwood Boulevard, is part of a group of East Point residents who have been trying to petition both the FAA and airport officials to re-examine flight paths. The residents believe the planes are not flying on their approved path.

"When we call and make complaints about the noise we are being told by the officials from the airport that they aren't flying over here," Saucier said.

Neighbor Art Phillips is a former Army air traffic controller. He showed Stockman how he's been documenting the problem with his noise monitor and taking detailed notes.

"It impacts our quality of life," Phillips said.

"Some East Point residents have repeatedly stated that aircraft are flying farther north than they should be.  Department of Aviation staff review the actual path the aircraft flew and, with the exception of a few rare instances, the residents' aircraft observations do not match with the actual flight path shown on radar, with typically the actual path being much farther south than where the residents report seeing the aircraft," Hartsfield Jackson spokeswoman Myrna White said in an email.

"People are moving, people that have lived here 30 years," Saucier said. 

The neighbors want to sit down with airport officials and talk about it because they believe their problems are continuing to be ignored. 

Airport officials contend that nothing has changed to make the planes any louder, but say some aircraft types may be louder due to their design.

WSBTV