Lake Arrowhead, CA – On November 6th, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced its plan to implement a new flight path over the San Bernardino Mountains that will replace a controversial route
over Lake Arrowhead, which generated numerous resident complaints since it was implemented in 2017.
The new flight path will officially be implemented on December 5. It is similar to an older route over the mostly unpopulated area near Heaps Peak. The FAA announcement can be found at https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/community_involvement/ont/.
San Bernardino County Second District Supervisor Janice Rutherford stated, “It took us a few years to get to this point, but by talking and working with the FAA rather than tying this matter up in the courts, we were able get this flight path changed sooner rather than later. I appreciate residents’ patience as the FAA finalized the flight path it promised us earlier this year, and I am also thankful for the support of Senator Dianne Feinstein, Senator Kamala Harris, and Congressman Paul Cook provided throughout our discussions with the FAA.”
The FAA implemented the SoCal Metroplex Project in phases in late 2016 and 2017. It replaced dozens of conventional air routes with ones based on satellite navigation. One of the routes took planes over the Lake Arrowhead communities, which are more than 5,000 feet above sea level. In April 2018, the FAA began diverting most night flights from the route over Lake Arrowhead in response to community concerns about noise the flights generated.
In addition to her outreach to residents, Supervisor Rutherford travelled to Washington, D.C. in 2018 to meet with FAA officials about the noise issues the flight path created in the mountains.
While the FAA will cancel the route over Lake Arrowhead in 30 days, the agency noted that air traffic controllers may have to direct aircraft off the new route because of factors including traffic volume and weather conditions. It is possible that this could occasionally result in aircraft overflying the Lake Arrowhead area and other mountain communities.
