Why did airplane noise around BWI get so much worse after 2015?

In March 2015 the FAA's DC Metroplex project replaced BWI's older, more dispersed flight paths with satellite-guided NextGen (RNAV) procedures that concentrate departures and arrivals into narrow, repetitive corridors, often at lower altitudes. Complaints exploded from roughly 300 per year before the change to over 620,000 in 2021, and Maryland officials have repeatedly pressed — and threatened to sue — the FAA over the tracks. Drop a pin on the map above to see whether your address sits under one of the concentrated corridors.

Which neighborhoods near BWI are quietest?

The noise burden follows the runway alignments — northwest–southeast (15R/33L) and east–west (10/28). Communities off those two axes, like Severna Park to the southeast-but-offset and areas well north toward Catonsville or east toward Pasadena's shoreline, see far less traffic. Linthicum Heights, Ferndale, Glen Burnie, Hanover, Severn and Elkridge are the most exposed. Use the pin-drop tool above to compare specific addresses.

Is Glen Burnie under a BWI flight path?

Yes — Glen Burnie sits directly under the Runway 33L final-approach stream, which handles most arrivals during west-flow operations (roughly 70% of the year). Arriving jets pass low overhead lined up from the southeast. The area's exposure is significant enough that Glen Burnie received $4 million in federal noise-mitigation funding in 2022.

Which runways does BWI use most?

BWI prefers west flow, in effect about 70% of the year — jet departures concentrate on Runway 28, climbing west over Hanover, Elkridge and eastern Columbia, while arrivals land on Runway 33L over Severn and Glen Burnie. In east flow the pattern flips — jets depart Runway 15R to the southeast and arrive on Runway 10 from the west over Elkridge and Jessup. The short 15L/33R parallel runway mainly handles smaller general-aviation aircraft.

What is the DC Metroplex BWI Community Roundtable?

It's the community body formed after the 2015 NextGen flight-path changes, hosted by the Maryland Aviation Administration and meeting in Linthicum Heights. The Roundtable has proposed re-dispersing concentrated departure and arrival tracks away from hard-hit communities such as Elkridge, Hanover, Columbia, Severn and Glen Burnie, and continues to press the FAA for altitude and routing changes.

How do I file an aircraft noise complaint about BWI?

The MDOT Maryland Aviation Administration's Office of Noise Abatement runs a 24-hour noise hotline at 410-859-7021, and complaints can also be filed through the MAA's online form at marylandaviation.com. Note that the MAA operates the airport but the FAA controls the flight paths, so track changes ultimately require FAA action.

Why do planes fly over Columbia, MD — it's 14 km from BWI?

Eastern Columbia villages — Long Reach, Oakland Mills, Downtown and Wilde Lake — lie under the concentrated Runway 28 NextGen departure tracks. Before 2015 those departures fanned out over a wider area; the RNAV procedures funneled them into narrow corridors that pass over eastern Howard County, which is why Columbia is named in the Roundtable's relief proposals. The route-density layer on the map above makes the corridor obvious.

Baltimore Flight Path Noise Map – Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI)

Name: Aircraft noise observations near Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport
Creator: Flight Path Noise
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Aircraft noise around Baltimore in October 2026

Loudest neighborhoods near Baltimore: Linthicum Heights, Ferndale, Glen Burnie, Hanover, Severn. Quietest: Severna Park. Busiest around 4 PM local time averaging 768 flights/day. Source: Flight Path Noise monitoring data, 30 days to 2026-10-19.

Flights by hour · last 30 days

12a6a12p6p

Average daily traffic

768

flights / day · 23,042 total

Busiest hour

4 PM

peak 95 dB

Loudest hour

4 PM

peak 95 dB

Loudest residential area

Elkridge

65 dB avg · ~494 flights/day · Busy road

Beneath Runway 28 departure climb-outs and Runway 10 arrival finals; a named beneficiary of the Roundtable's proposed track dispersal

Does Baltimore Airport have a curfew?

No — BWI operates 24 hours a day; overnight noise measures are voluntary.

BWI Marshall has no nighttime curfew — the Maryland Aviation Administration’s own FAQ confirms the airport operates around the clock, and its noise-abatement measures are voluntary rather than enforceable. The documented night-specific procedures are a preferential runway program between 11 PM and 5 AM (arrivals steered to Runway 10, departures to Runway 28 where conditions allow), engine run-up restrictions from 11 PM to 7 AM, and a hard ban on practice landings and approaches by turbo-powered aircraft from 10 PM to 6 AM. Older, louder Stage 2 jets are banned nationwide under federal law, not by any BWI-specific rule. Because nothing stops scheduled traffic overnight, cargo flights and early-morning departure banks continue through the night — a standing grievance for close-in communities like Linthicum Heights and Ferndale.

Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI/KBWI) sits at Linthicum in Anne Arundel County, and it is the epicenter of one of the most intense NextGen noise disputes in the United States. After the FAA’s 2015 DC Metroplex procedures concentrated departures and arrivals into narrow satellite-guided corridors, annual noise complaints exploded from roughly 300 per year to over 620,000 in 2021, and Maryland officials have repeatedly threatened to sue the FAA over the flight paths. Prevailing west-flow operations put about 70% of jet departures on Runway 28 heading west over Howard County while arrivals stream in on Runway 33L over Glen Burnie and Severn — so the noise burden splits sharply between Anne Arundel and Howard counties depending on the wind.

Which neighborhoods are quietest — and which aren’t

BWI has three runways: 10/28 (10,503 ft, the longest, running east–west), 15R/33L (9,501 ft, northwest–southeast, the main landing runway in west flow), and the short parallel 15L/33R (5,000 ft), a commuter runway reserved for smaller aircraft under a noise limit and weight cap. The two big runways define two noise axes — east–west and northwest–southeast — and nearly every high-exposure community sits on one of them.

Area	Aircraft noise	Why
Linthicum Heights	✈︎✈︎✈︎	Closest community; between 33L arrivals and 15R departures
Ferndale	✈︎✈︎✈︎	East of the 10/28 centerline; Runway 10 departure rolls
Glen Burnie	✈︎✈︎✈︎	Directly under the concentrated 33L final-approach stream
Hanover	✈︎✈︎✈︎	Under the Runway 28 westbound departure corridor
Severn	✈︎✈︎✈︎	West-flow 33L arrivals descend overhead
Elkridge	✈︎✈︎✈︎	Runway 28 climb-outs and Runway 10 arrival finals
Brooklyn Park	✈︎✈︎	Off main corridors; east-flow arrivals and downwinds
Arbutus / Halethorpe	✈︎✈︎	Under 33L departure climb-outs turning northwest
Jessup	✈︎✈︎	Western departure fan off Runway 28
Odenton	✈︎✈︎	East-flow 15R departure tracks and arrival sequencing
Pasadena	✈︎✈︎	Outer 33L arrival stream
Columbia (Long Reach / Oakland Mills)	✈︎✈︎	Concentrated Runway 28 NextGen departure tracks
Severna Park	✈︎	Outer arrival path; jets higher, noise intermittent

The pattern to remember: if you’re on the extended centerline of Runway 28 to the west (Hanover, Elkridge, eastern Columbia) you get departures — climbing jets at full thrust, loudest close-in but audible well into Howard County because the NextGen tracks don’t disperse. If you’re southeast of the field (Glen Burnie, Severn, Pasadena) you get arrivals — a steady conveyor of descending jets on the 33L final. Linthicum Heights and Ferndale, wedged against the field itself, get some of everything plus ground noise. Communities off both axes — Severna Park at distance, and areas north toward Catonsville — are noticeably quieter. If you’re weighing an address anywhere in this ring, drop a pin on the map above and check the street-level numbers.

Flight patterns and runway use

The Maryland Aviation Administration runs a preferential runway use program, and the preferred configuration — west flow — is in effect roughly 70% of the year. In west flow, jet departures concentrate on Runway 28, climbing west over Hanover, Elkridge and eastern Columbia, while arrivals land on Runway 33L, with finals passing over Severn and Glen Burnie from the southeast. When the wind swings east, the whole picture flips: jets depart Runway 15R to the southeast over Ferndale and toward Odenton, and arrive on Runway 10 from the west over Elkridge and Jessup.

What changed in 2015 wasn’t the runways — it was the tracks. The FAA’s DC Metroplex project replaced dispersed conventional procedures with RNAV (satellite-guided) routes that fly the same narrow line every time, often at lower altitudes. Residents who rarely noticed aircraft before March 2015 suddenly found themselves under a concentrated corridor with traffic every few minutes. That concentration — not an increase in total flights — is the core grievance driving BWI’s complaint numbers, and it’s exactly what the route-density layer on the map above visualizes: bright, narrow ribbons west of Runway 28 and southeast of Runway 33L, rather than the broad fan you’d see at a pre-NextGen airport.

The DC Metroplex BWI Community Roundtable, which meets in Linthicum Heights, has spent years pushing the FAA to re-disperse those tracks and raise altitudes, with Elkridge, Hanover, Columbia, Severn and Glen Burnie named in its relief proposals. Maryland’s attorney general has gone as far as challenging the FAA in court over the procedures. Changes so far have been incremental — so the concentrated pattern you see on the map is the current reality.

When is it quietest?

BWI has no curfew — it operates 24 hours, and its noise-abatement measures are voluntary. That shapes the daily profile:

Overnight (midnight – 5 AM): quietest, but never silent. Cargo freighters and occasional late arrivals continue. The nighttime preferential runway program (11 PM – 5 AM) steers arrivals to Runway 10 and departures to Runway 28 where conditions allow, which shifts — not eliminates — the noise.
5 AM – 8 AM: the early departure banks ramp up quickly; Southwest’s first wave makes this one of the loudest stretches of the day for departure-corridor communities like Hanover and Elkridge.
Midday: sustained, moderate traffic in both directions.
Late afternoon – 9 PM: arrival and departure banks overlap; peak for Glen Burnie and Severn under the 33L final.
9 PM – midnight: tapering, but with no curfew there’s no hard cutoff.

A few hard time-based rules do exist: practice landings and approaches by turbo-powered aircraft are prohibited 10 PM – 6 AM, and engine run-ups are restricted 11 PM – 7 AM. Neither affects scheduled airline traffic. Wind matters more than the clock for any given address — a shift to east flow moves the departure noise from Howard County to the Ferndale/Odenton side within the hour.

Check the hourly profile for your own address with the pin-drop tool above; the difference between a west-flow and east-flow day at the same house can be dramatic.

How to check noise at your specific address

The map above answers “is this street loud?” in three steps:

Search your address or postcode in the bar at the bottom of the map.
Drop a pin — click the location marker that appears.
Read the noise report in the sidebar: average daily noise (Leq), peak observed dB, flights per day passing within 2 km, and an hourly breakdown.

The Noise Heatmap layer (orange/red = louder) and the Route Density layer (purple/magenta = busier corridors) make BWI’s NextGen concentration unmistakable — narrow, bright ribbons along the Runway 28 departure line into Howard County and the Runway 33L arrival line over Glen Burnie. If your address falls between the two axes, you’ll likely land in the green zone; if it sits on one of the ribbons, the hourly breakdown will show you whether you’re in the departure-bank morning pattern or the arrival-heavy evening one. For complaints, the MDOT MAA’s 24-hour noise hotline is 410-859-7021.

Frequently asked questions

Why did airplane noise around BWI get so much worse after 2015?: In March 2015 the FAA's DC Metroplex project replaced BWI's older, more dispersed flight paths with satellite-guided NextGen (RNAV) procedures that concentrate departures and arrivals into narrow, repetitive corridors, often at lower altitudes. Complaints exploded from roughly 300 per year before the change to over 620,000 in 2021, and Maryland officials have repeatedly pressed — and threatened to sue — the FAA over the tracks. Drop a pin on the map above to see whether your address sits under one of the concentrated corridors.
Which neighborhoods near BWI are quietest?: The noise burden follows the runway alignments — northwest–southeast (15R/33L) and east–west (10/28). Communities off those two axes, like Severna Park to the southeast-but-offset and areas well north toward Catonsville or east toward Pasadena's shoreline, see far less traffic. Linthicum Heights, Ferndale, Glen Burnie, Hanover, Severn and Elkridge are the most exposed. Use the pin-drop tool above to compare specific addresses.
Is Glen Burnie under a BWI flight path?: Yes — Glen Burnie sits directly under the Runway 33L final-approach stream, which handles most arrivals during west-flow operations (roughly 70% of the year). Arriving jets pass low overhead lined up from the southeast. The area's exposure is significant enough that Glen Burnie received $4 million in federal noise-mitigation funding in 2022.
Which runways does BWI use most?: BWI prefers west flow, in effect about 70% of the year — jet departures concentrate on Runway 28, climbing west over Hanover, Elkridge and eastern Columbia, while arrivals land on Runway 33L over Severn and Glen Burnie. In east flow the pattern flips — jets depart Runway 15R to the southeast and arrive on Runway 10 from the west over Elkridge and Jessup. The short 15L/33R parallel runway mainly handles smaller general-aviation aircraft.
What is the DC Metroplex BWI Community Roundtable?: It's the community body formed after the 2015 NextGen flight-path changes, hosted by the Maryland Aviation Administration and meeting in Linthicum Heights. The Roundtable has proposed re-dispersing concentrated departure and arrival tracks away from hard-hit communities such as Elkridge, Hanover, Columbia, Severn and Glen Burnie, and continues to press the FAA for altitude and routing changes.
How do I file an aircraft noise complaint about BWI?: The MDOT Maryland Aviation Administration's Office of Noise Abatement runs a 24-hour noise hotline at 410-859-7021, and complaints can also be filed through the MAA's online form at marylandaviation.com. Note that the MAA operates the airport but the FAA controls the flight paths, so track changes ultimately require FAA action.
Why do planes fly over Columbia, MD — it's 14 km from BWI?: Eastern Columbia villages — Long Reach, Oakland Mills, Downtown and Wilde Lake — lie under the concentrated Runway 28 NextGen departure tracks. Before 2015 those departures fanned out over a wider area; the RNAV procedures funneled them into narrow corridors that pass over eastern Howard County, which is why Columbia is named in the Roundtable's relief proposals. The route-density layer on the map above makes the corridor obvious.

Sources and further reading

Noise Complaints — Airport Noise — Maryland Aviation Administration (MDOT MAA)
DC Metroplex BWI Community Roundtable — Maryland Aviation Administration (MDOT MAA)
Baltimore/Washington International Airport — Wikipedia
KBWI airport information (runways, noise remarks) — AirNav / FAA data
New flight plans at BWI bring jets lower, cause headaches for neighbors — The Baltimore Sun
State officials mull FAA lawsuit as BWI noise complaints continue — WMAR-2 News Baltimore

Data updated 2026-10-19 — live ADS-B monitoring, rolling 30-day statistics (methodology). Article text revised 2026-07-17.

30 dB	Whisper
45 dB	Quiet residential
55 dB	Normal conversation
65 dB	Busy road
75 dB	Vacuum cleaner
85 dB	Heavy traffic
95 dB	Motorcycle nearby

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Baltimore Flight Path Noise Map – Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI)

Aircraft noise around Baltimore in October 2026

Does Baltimore Airport have a curfew?

Which neighborhoods are quietest — and which aren’t

Flight patterns and runway use

When is it quietest?

How to check noise at your specific address

Frequently asked questions

Sources and further reading

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