Plan to limit O'Hare Airport noise released: stop complaining and wear earplugs

O'Hare International Airport.

Updated 1 hr 51 mins ago

 

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS -- 

 

Aviation officials in Chicago have released a plan to limit some of the jet noise around O'Hare International Airport that residents have been complaining about since flight patterns changed two years ago.  In short, people should stop complaining and insulate their homes and ears from the noise.

Under the proposal announced Friday, the airport would rotate which runways are used at night to more evenly distribute jet noise. It still needs approval from the Federal Aviation Administration.

The plan, however, rejects some of the more expansive demands of community groups upset by the noise. Those groups wanted O'Hare to keep two diagonal runways so jets are not always flying over the same neighborhoods. But aviation officials say those runways must be demolished as part of the reconfiguration of O'Hare's outdated airfield design.

The city says it will also seek more funding for soundproofing homes.