At an April 2023 event featuring Cong. Don Beyer, Arlington County Board member Libby Garvey, and Alexandria Mayor Justin Wilson, representatives of the Department of Defense (DOD), the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and Helicopter Association International (HAI) announced new measures to raise helicopter altitudes
and alter flight paths to reduce the impact of noise over residential areas.
Helicopter noise has been a perennial source of complaints by Fairlington residents and has been an item that FCA has monitored over the years. FCA jointly hosted a community forum on helicopter noise with Beyer in 2018. The announcement at the Fairlington Community Center followed FAA analysis of data from a pilot program
to track helicopter noise complaints by residents using a system developed on recommendations made in a 2021 General Accounting Office (GAO) report which Beyer requested. FCA participated in the GAO study.
At the event, local elected officials announced an agreement between their Northern Virginia jurisdictions to fund that helicopter complaint system going forward, extending its life beyond the pilot program.
Fairlington residents can submit noise concerns via web form, an iPhone and Android compatible mobile app, or by voicemail at a noise complaint hotline at 877-209-3200.
The complaint system options can be accessed here.
Read the full GAO Helicopter Noise Study Request Letter, signed in January 2019 by Congress members Don Beyer, Eleanor Holmes Norton, and others.
The impact of noise from military helicopters on the Fairlington neighborhood, as well as other residential areas in Arlington and Alexandria, has been an ongoing issue for many years. Residents having questions regarding this issue should contact:
Noah Simon
District Director
Office of Congressman Don Beyer
Phone: 703-658-5403
Email: Noah.Simon@mail.house.gov