CENTENNIAL, Colo. — A woman who lives a few miles from Centennial Airport is worried she’ll be the target of harassment above her home for bringing concerns about the level noise coming from the skies.
"When I moved here, you didn't even know there was an airport there," she said.
The woman, who moved to her home 20 years ago, asked that we not identify her for this story.
Since then, she said the aircraft noise from Centennial Airport has only gotten worse.
"It's the type of noise, that you just feel in your nervous system," she said.
And as each month flies by, her search or solutions only becomes more frustrating.
"I've seen my name posted, I've seen people say, 'We're going to fly over people's houses; here's the person to target.' This is why I don't want this to be public. This is why I'm hoping my identity's well-enough hidden. Because, yeah, I think I am afraid for my safety," she admitted.
Centennial Airport's CEO, Mike Fronapfel, explained that with an uptick in training, especially this summer, it's resulted in at least a 50% increase in overflights in communities north and west of the airport.
"I don't think there's a 100% solution to it. We're one of the busiest airports in the country and we're going to continue to grow over time so those overflights, although we're hoping to pull some of them back over the long term, the airport will continue to grow," Fronapfel said.
Starting September 30, the airport plans to roll out some minor mitigation, including encouraging training pilots to fly during more reasonable hours, according to Fronapfel.
There is an ongoing round-table to discuss these solutions, made up of elected officials, community representatives, airport staff and even the FAA ,which Fronapfel said is rare for them to intervene on a local level.
"The long-term solution is going to take several more years," Fronapfel said.
That doesn't sit well with the woman we spoke to.
"We're all paying the price for them to grow," she said.
