There are days now when an airplane flies over the middle of Federal Way every minute-and-a-half. Thismeans non-stop noise, soot, grit, suspected fuel dumps and possible accidents. There are even a coupleof flights around 2 a.m., which are so loud that they rattle the windows and wake me out of a soundsleep.

It wasn’t this bad six months ago. Normally planes fly over the State Route 99/Interstate 5 corridor.SeaTac Airport announced that they have the middle runway closed for repairs until October. But all threerunways are parallel to each other, so there should not be a change in flight patterns. I’ve called theSeaTac noise complaint line several times and filed complaints on their website. I’ve had to leave phonemessages. So far nobody has called me back or responded to the filings.

Since this is a quality of life issue in our city, I sent an email to Mayor Jim Ferrell. As far as I know,Federal Way was not notified about the runway closure or about the increased flights over us.

Mayor Ferrell and his Chief of Staff Brian Wilson met with Port of Seattle officials and were told that theairport now uses a GPS landing system, which makes for tighter circles for landings and takeoffs andsaves the airlines fuel. Good for the airlines. Non-stop noise and air pollution for us.

I met with Wilson and believe that both he and the mayor are very concerned about this problem. This isnot something the mayor nor the city has control over. They will have to negotiate with the Port ofSeattle. They need your support. Call Mr. Wilson at 253-835-2510 or email him your concerns atbrian.wilson@cityoffederalway.com.

In 2011, then-Mayor Skip Priest was told the “Port has excluded the city from the noise programboundary and the Port has not analyzed data it collects from Federal Way-area noise monitoringstations.” (Federal Way Mirror article, Aug. 29, 2011, “Airport Noise: Federal Way Pressures Port ofSeattle.”)

Mayor Ferrell has a big job ahead of him as we have now reached a point where planes are flying over usnon-stop. Delta Airlines alone plans to add over 130 more flights per day. So this will probably not getbetter when they finish the runway repair in October.

We need to make our voices heard. You may sleep with your windows closed and not hear the noise. Butyou’ll still get the daily pollution, including possible fuel dumps.

Call the Port’s noise complaint number at 206-787-5393 or file online. Search for “Noise CommentForm- Port of Seattle.” You may also call Ms. Linda Stewart, director of the Port’s communitypartnerships at 206-787-7983 or email stewart.l@portseattle.org.

This is your city, your health and your quality of life.

Michael Kun, Federal Way