Talk to Sen. Cantwell

The FAA-hosted meeting about airplane noise [“Meeting about airport noise doesn't fly,” NWWednesday, Nov. 14] was helpful to this Beacon Hill resident. I learned there why the FAA and Port of Seattle cannot satisfy our desire for quieter skies.

Noise standards are set by law enacted by Congress. They do not consider the peak plane noise that wakes us upin the middle of the night. They only average noise over a year. More noise monitors won't do any good if the data they collect are used only to compute annual average noise.

The airlines don't want noise issues to affect their operations. They would rather be free to schedule flights whenever they want. It was probably the airline lobbyists who prevailed on Congress to enact the present noise standards.

Congress is where the battle for quieter skies must be fought. Sen. Maria Cantwell chairs the Senate Subcommittee on Aviation Operations, Safety and Security. We'll have to talk to her.

— Charles Davis, Seattle