Nashville airplane noise: Council steps in

By Midstate Daily News Desk · Edited by Channing Webb · Nov. 13, 2026

Aerial view of Nashville International Airport's runways and terminal surrounded by South Nashville neighborhoods (file photo, 2011) — File photo: Cbreland via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 (source)

TLDRMetro Council voted 25-2 Thursday night, with one abstention, to back South Nashville residents who say new departure routes at Nashville International Airport have put up to 150-plus planes a day over their homes. The resolution asks the airport authority to keep passing residents' concerns to the FAA, share flight and noise data, and warn neighborhoods about future route changes. It cannot move a single flight path, because only the FAA controls them. A separate federal lawsuit by residents and the City of Oak Hill is still pending.

If you live in Crieve Hall, Oak Hill or nearby parts of South Nashville and feel like the planes overhead never stop, Metro Council is now officially on your side. What it can actually do about it is a different question.

Council members approved a substitute resolution Thursday night, Nov. 12, by a 25-2 vote with one abstention, NewsChannel 5 and Fox 17 reported. Fox 17 identified the measure as RS2026-2324.

What the resolution asks for

The resolution asks the Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority to keep sharing residents' concerns with the Federal Aviation Administration, make relevant aircraft and noise information available to the public, and notify affected residents about future FAA proposals that would significantly change departure procedures, according to NewsChannel 5.

It does not require any change to existing flight paths, Fox 17 reported.

"I do want to make it clear we do not have any authority over the FAA and what their choice of flight patterns is," Councilmember Mike Cortese, the sponsor, said during the meeting, according to NewsChannel 5. "The goal of this is to make sure the community's voice is elevated."

What neighbors say changed

The resolution says residents in parts of southern Davidson County have reported more than 150 flights over some homes on certain days after new departure headings took effect, with noise readings as high as 90 decibels, NewsChannel 5 reported. Some residents told council members they went from roughly a dozen planes a day overhead to more than 150, according to Fox 17.

The Crieve Hall Neighborhood Association says the runway that sends planes over its area used to have one departure heading and now has four, and that the new routes are also affecting Caldwell Abbey Hall, Whispering Hills, Oak Hill and Aberdeen Woods.

"It's five a.m. till midnight some days," Kelly Insana, a Crieve Hall resident and president of the group Course Correct Nashville, told NewsChannel 5. She said residents are not asking to push the noise onto another neighborhood but want departures spread out more evenly.

The Tennessean reported in October that noise complaints have risen since the federal change, with some residents describing the noise as unlivable.

The FAA's side

The FAA has said the departure-heading changes were designed to improve separation between aircraft, let controllers move planes more efficiently and disperse departing flights, NewsChannel 5 reported. The agency held a virtual public workshop on the changes with the airport on March 6, 2025, and has declined to comment on the dispute because of pending litigation.

Not everyone on the council agreed

Councilmember Welsh voted no, saying the resolution could give residents unrealistic expectations. "There's nothing we can do and I don't want to give my constituents false hope," Welsh said, according to Fox 17. Welsh also noted that some neighborhoods have had less airplane noise since the routes changed and worry a reversal could send planes back over them.

Councilmember Allen asked for more legal research on whether federal environmental review rules could apply to the airport changes, and the council's special counsel agreed to look into it, Fox 17 reported.

The lawsuit

Course Correct Nashville, the City of Oak Hill, the Crieve Hall Neighborhood Association and Insana are also challenging the FAA in federal court, arguing the agency did not properly study how the new routes affect neighborhoods and Radnor Lake State Park, NewsChannel 5 reported. Court filings show the FAA found the changes would not create significant noise impacts and qualified for a categorical exclusion from a fuller environmental review. The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals is weighing the case, and Insana said the group has been told to expect a decision on Dec. 3.

How to file a noise complaint

Residents' groups are urging neighbors to put complaints on the record. The airport authority directs noise questions and complaints to its online form at flighttracker.casper.aero/bna/complaint, according to the BNA Master Plan site, which also says the authority is updating its Noise Exposure Map with a public involvement process.

For concerns about flight procedures or air traffic, the FAA takes complaints through its Aviation Noise Complaint and Inquiry Response portal, linked from its How to File a Noise Complaint page. The FAA says those complaints rarely lead to airspace changes but do show the agency and policymakers where noise concerns are.

For more on getting around Davidson County, see our story on the James Robertson Parkway bridge closure, the I-24 Choice Lanes public meetings and more Davidson County news.