Col. Scott E. Sanborn from Army Air Operations speaks to residents about helicopter noise. (Photo: TBD Staff)

Since 2007, Arlington resident Ed Hilz has filed 350 helicopter noise complaints with the Federal Aviation Administration--including one this week. There hasn’t been any marked reduction in the frequency of helicopter trips, or the height at which they fly over his Fairlington neighborhood, though.

The noise is jarring, and has caused structural damage to some people’s homes, he says. The helicopters often veer off the arranged routes, which follow major thoroughfares like Interstate 395 or U.S. Route 7. And there are times when the helicopters are just 150 or 200 feet above homes.

But more annoying is the fact that he never received a response to any of of his complaints.

“I personally reported over 350 incidents where helicopters were flying off route, and there wasn't any dialogue since March of 2007,” Hilz told members military and government personnel at a meeting on the helicopter noise issue in Arlington last night. “You would report these incidents, and you wouldn't hear anything.

Last night’s meeting was the brainchild of Arlington board member Mary Hynes and Fairfax County Board of Supervisors member Gerald Highland, two local officials that have become a sounding board for residents plagued by helicopter flyovers. Residents “get it” when it comes to the need for helicopter trips overhead, Hynes assured military members at the meeting. “But we’re eager to explore whether modest adjustments could be made with little to no impact to mission accomplishment,” she added.

Hynes is also the chair of the aviation policy committee of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, which hosted last night’s meeting. She says military trips make up 51 percent of the the helicopter trips through the region, and residents tend to attribute many of those trips to the Davison Army Airfield at Fort Belvoir -- even if that’s not accurate.

Fort Belvoir’s Colonel Scott E. Sanborn, who just took over leadership of the Army Air Operations Group for the region earlier this month, says the base does all it can to reduce disruptive flights. “We do take this issue very seriously,” he said.

The larger problem is that when complaints come in to the military or the FAA, the actual helicopter in question could be related to any number of military units flying missions in the D.C. area, and it can be tough to tell where the trouble spots are.

Hynes is looking for someone to look at the overall flight scenarios in the region and identify “hot spots” where helicopters regularly fly too low, or veer off course into residential neighborhoods. “That's what we're all kind of thinking about, do you look at that for patterns,” she asked.

Hyland is also looking for an answer as to whether these flights are vital to national security. “If it has to happen then, i have no problem saying to my community, you have to suck it up, they need to do that mission,” said Hyland. “But we would certainly like to know, is it necessary to overfly residential communities, and is there an alternative to overflying residential comm during certain periods of time.”

Most of the agencies with air traffic in the area either don’t have the manpower or the security permissions, to release that kind of information. But Bob Laser, operations manager for the air control tower at Reagan National Airport, says he might be able to help by doing a case study of a two-week period of helicopter traffic and complaints.

A wrap-up of that info would necessarily lack specific flight information, but it could identify the patterns Hynes mentioned. “What we can really get out of that, is here are the hot spots, so we can tell everyone, ‘as best you can, avoid those hot spots,’ or ‘if you can choose between this or that route, don't always choose that one,’” Laser said. Air traffic control at DCA has access to all entities that fly through its airspace, and thus could bring together all the necessary parties for that conversation, Laser added.

He said he would organize that meeting and reach out to local officials about it. For her part, Hynes seemed satisfied with the development, although she added that the initial study should lead to more regular interaction between the interested parties. “I think we have a game plan. It appears that the message on regular communication has been heard,” she said.

What about Hilz? He’s optimistic. Moreso than he was in 2007, which is the last time DOD agreed to host one of these meetings. “I’m encouraged at what came out of here tonight, and the commitment made,” he said.