Changes In SFO Flight Paths Lead To Growing Number Of Noise Complaints

SAN FRANCISCO INT'L AIRPORT (KPIX 5) – People in parts of San Mateo County say they're fed up with noise from planes leaving the San Francisco International Airport, following a recent change. They want federal regulators to do something about it.

"Can't sleep, can't work, can't socialize with your family," said Pacifica mayor Sue Digre. "To me that hits your mental, your whole body."

The mayor said she has had enough with loud planes ruining the quiet feel of her coastal city.

"I felt jittery. And I stopped and said, 'What is it?' It was the sound every two minutes that particular day I was home," Digre recalled.

Dan Stegink of Pacifica hears the airplane noise as well. He launched a website called LoudJet.Net that allows people to submit their noise complaints straight to the FAA.

"Absolutely, the complaints have gone up," Stegink told KPIX 5.

The past year, the FAA switched to a GPS-based system, which was intended to be an upgrade.

Brisbane Mayor Cliff Lentz, who is also part of the SFO Airport/Community Roundtable, said the change has been anything but.

"It was supposed to help," Lentz said. "In the end, it wound up making things in many places worse."

Instead of flying over San Francisco Bay, where planes won't disturb people, they are heading straight over normally quiet cities like Brisbane and Pacifica.

"When you initiate something new for the first time, you are going to have some bugs," Lentz said.

The roundtable is scheduled to hold meetings on the noise issue at the airport on Thursday.