Dad leads community effort against rising airplane noise in neighborhoods
By Kim Rafferty
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HENDERSONVILLE, Tennessee (WTVF) — A Hendersonville father is raising concerns about increased aircraft noise in his neighborhood, saying flight pattern changes have disrupted the quiet community life that drew his family to the area.
Warren Hawkins moved to Hendersonville in 2024 from East Nashville, attracted by the schools, safety and peaceful environment. Throughout 2024, he said his family didn’t notice any significant air traffic noise. But in 2025, that changed dramatically.
“We moved here in 2024 from east nashville and we were drawn by the schools the safety and the quiet living. Throughout 2024 we didnt really notice any air traffic noise. Then into 2025 it was a really distinct changes we’ll be out walking in the neighborhood having to pause converstions,” Hawkins said.
Hawkins acknowledges he’s not an aviation expert, but he’s noticed clear changes in his daily life.
“I am not going to pretend to know everything about FAA flight paths and BNA policy and things of that nature but from what I can gather it does look like there are more distinct flight paths over the Indian Lake Peninsula where flight traffic volume has increased the elevation of those flights appears to be lower to the ground making more noise,” Hawkins said.
His concerns appear to resonate with neighbors. Nearly 100 residents have signed a form supporting his efforts to address the issue.
“yea we got just under a 100 participants who signed the form it definitely is resonating with other residents around the community,” Hawkins said.
The noise concerns aren’t coming out of nowhere. The FAA said they changed flight patterns for planes departing Nashville in the spring of 2025, sending aircraft closer to residential areas than before.
Hawkins plans to take his concerns to city leaders, hoping to start conversations about managing noise before it becomes a bigger problem.
“if it continued to increase in volume and frequency that is something that would drive us to move for sure. but first we want to look for a solution,” Hawkins said.
He emphasizes his goal isn’t to stop air traffic at all, but to find realistic ways through community action to manage noise and improve quality of life.
Hawkins said he’ll speak at a City Council meeting this week about his concerns.
In this article, WTVF used artificial intelligence to help us convert a video news report originally written by Kim Rafferty. When using this tool, both Kim and the NewsChannel 5 editorial team verified all the facts in the article to make sure it is fair and accurate before WTVF published it.
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