Why are planes so loud in Memphis at night?

Memphis International is the FedEx Express global superhub — the busiest cargo airport in the Americas — and its overnight sort inverts the normal airport noise pattern. Widely cited industry figures put 150-plus freighters converging between roughly 10 PM and 1 AM, then departing between about 2 and 5 AM, with combined movements reportedly peaking above 300 per hour across the parallel runways. If you hear a steady stream of heavy jets at 3 AM, that's the outbound FedEx wave. Drop a pin on the map above to see the hourly profile at your address.

What time do the FedEx planes fly at night in Memphis?

The night sort runs in two waves — arrivals concentrate from roughly 10 PM to 1 AM, and departures from roughly 2 AM to 5 AM. There are also daytime waves, with arrivals from about 8 AM to 1 PM and departures from about 2 PM to 5 PM. The quietest gaps tend to fall between the waves, in the early morning after the departure push and in the evening before the inbound sort begins.

How do I complain about aircraft noise in Memphis?

The Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority (MSCAA) runs a noise hotline at (901) 922-8044, listed on the airport's environment pages at flymemphis.com. Note the airport itself says the US Airport Noise and Capacity Act of 1990 prevents it from restricting night operations, so complaints inform monitoring and planning rather than triggering flight bans.

Is Cooper-Young in the Memphis airport flight path?

Yes. Cooper-Young and the surrounding Midtown blocks sit about 9 km north of the field near the runway 18R final approach, so in south flow — the most common configuration — arrivals descend overhead, and in north flow departures climb out over the same area. Local press has described the neighborhood as squarely in the MEM flight path. Exposure is moderate compared with close-in areas like Oakhaven or Whitehaven; drop a pin on the map to compare specific streets.

Does Memphis airport noise affect Southaven, Mississippi?

Significantly. The Tennessee–Mississippi state line is only about 3 km south of the airfield, and eastern Southaven sits directly under the extended centerlines of the three parallel runways. In south flow that means the 2–5 AM FedEx departure wave climbs out directly over Southaven; in north flow it gets the arrival stream instead. Horn Lake, slightly west of the corridors, gets turning departures rather than straight-out traffic.

Which Memphis neighborhoods have the least airplane noise?

Areas well east of the north–south runway corridors do best — Germantown, East Memphis around Colonial and Yorkshire, and most of Hickory Hill see only high, dispersed traffic, mainly when the east–west crosswind runway 9/27 is active. The most affected areas are Oakhaven, Whitehaven, Orange Mound and eastern Southaven. Use the pin-drop tool above to check any specific address.

Did Memphis airport buy out homes because of noise?

Yes — the mitigation history here is among the largest in the US. Per the airport-confirmed noise summary in Boeing's database, roughly 1,400 homes and churches have been acquired since 1988, and a class-action lawsuit filed in 1989 and certified in 1993 was settled with payments to about 12,000 households in exchange for avigation easements. Total mitigation spending is put at about $116 million.

Is Memphis International Airport changing its name?

The Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority board voted in June 2025 to rename the airport Frederick W. Smith International Airport, honoring the late FedEx founder. The name was submitted to the FAA and was still pending approval as of early 2026. The MEM and KMEM airport codes are unchanged, and none of this affects flight paths or noise.

Memphis Flight Path Noise Map – Memphis International Airport (MEM)

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

Aircraft noise around Memphis in October 2026

Loudest neighborhoods near Memphis: Oakhaven, Whitehaven, Southaven (MS), Orange Mound. Quietest: Hickory Hill, East Memphis (Colonial/Yorkshire), Germantown. Busiest around 10 PM local time averaging 624 flights/day. Source: Flight Path Noise monitoring data, 30 days to 2026-10-18.

Flights by hour · last 30 days

12a6a12p6p

Average daily traffic

624

flights / day · 18,735 total

Busiest hour

10 PM

peak 95 dB

Loudest hour

10 PM

peak 95 dB

Loudest residential area

Southaven (MS)

72 dB avg · ~426 flights/day · Loud conversation

Eastern Southaven sits directly under the 18 departure / 36 arrival centerlines just over the state line — full brunt of the 2–5 AM FedEx departure wave in south flow

Does Memphis Airport have a curfew?

No — no curfew or night restrictions, and night is actually the airport's busiest period.

Memphis International has no curfew, no night restrictions, no operating quota and no noise surcharge — confirmed by both the airport’s own Noise Control FAQ and the airport-confirmed noise summary in Boeing’s database. The airport points to the US Airport Noise and Capacity Act of 1990 (ANCA), which effectively bars US airports from imposing new bans or restrictions on night flights. At MEM the distinction matters more than almost anywhere else, because night is the peak — the FedEx Express global sort concentrates freighter arrivals from roughly 10 PM to 1 AM and departures from roughly 2 AM to 5 AM. The only time-limited rule is on the ground, not in the air — engine run-ups are permitted only in designated run-up areas between 6 AM and 10 PM local, except for emergencies with Airport Authority notification.

Memphis is the rare city where the airport is louder at 2 AM than at 2 PM. Memphis International (MEM/KMEM), about 11 km southeast of downtown, is the FedEx Express global superhub and the busiest cargo airport in the Americas — and its defining feature is the overnight sort, when well over a hundred freighters converge between roughly 10 PM and 1 AM and blast back out between about 2 and 5 AM, with movements reportedly peaking above 300 an hour across four runways. There is no curfew, and under the US Airport Noise and Capacity Act of 1990 there effectively cannot be a new one. The noise legacy here is unusually concrete: roughly 1,400 homes and churches acquired since 1988, a 1993 class-action settlement that paid about 12,000 households in exchange for avigation easements, and some $116 million spent on mitigation. Oakhaven, Whitehaven and Orange Mound — and Southaven just over the Mississippi state line — live directly under the freighter flow.

Which neighborhoods are quietest — and which aren’t

MEM runs three parallel north–south runways — 18C/36C (3,389 m, the longest), 18R/36L (2,841 m, westernmost) and 18L/36R (2,743 m, easternmost) — plus an east–west crosswind runway 9/27 (2,727 m). The parallels carry almost all traffic; 9/27 opens selectively, mainly to add inbound capacity from the east and west during FedEx arrival peaks. That geometry means the noise footprint is a long north–south band through the middle of the metro, crossing the state line into DeSoto County, Mississippi, with a secondary east–west band when the crosswind runway is active.

Area	Aircraft noise	Why
Oakhaven	✈︎✈︎✈︎	Immediately east of the field beside 18L/36R; historic land-acquisition area
Whitehaven	✈︎✈︎✈︎	Close-in west of 18R/36L and under the 27/09 west corridor; includes Graceland
Southaven (MS)	✈︎✈︎✈︎	Directly under the 18 departure / 36 arrival centerlines just over the state line
Orange Mound	✈︎✈︎✈︎	Under the 18C/18L final approach at roughly 1,500 ft in south flow
Cooper-Young (Midtown)	✈︎✈︎	Near the 18R final and under north-flow climb-outs
Parkway Village	✈︎✈︎	Under 36R departure turns and the 09/27 east corridor
Capleville	✈︎✈︎	Under eastbound turns off the 18s during the overnight wave
Fox Meadows	✈︎✈︎	On the extended 09/27 centerline when the crosswind runway opens
Horn Lake (MS)	✈︎✈︎	Catches westbound turns off 18R departures
Westwood	✈︎✈︎	Under departures turning west off the 18s
Hickory Hill	✈︎	Mostly off-corridor; affected mainly when 09/27 is active
East Memphis (Colonial/Yorkshire)	✈︎	Off the north–south corridors; turning traffic above 3,000 ft
Germantown	✈︎	Well off-corridor east; only high, dispersed tracks

The practical rule in Memphis is east–west distance from the parallel-runway centerlines. Close-in neighborhoods beside the field — Oakhaven to the east, Whitehaven to the west — and anywhere on the extended centerlines north (Orange Mound, parts of Midtown) or south (eastern Southaven) get the heaviest and most regular traffic, including the overnight freighter waves. Move well east of the corridors — Germantown, the Colonial/Yorkshire blocks of East Memphis, most of Hickory Hill — and overflight drops to high, dispersed tracks, mostly when runway 9/27 is in use. If you’re weighing an address anywhere between those extremes, drop a pin on the map above and check the hourly profile, paying particular attention to the overnight hours.

Flight patterns and runway use

Winds at Memphis are predominantly from the south and southwest, so south flow — landing and departing on the 18s — is the most common configuration. In south flow, arrivals descend over Midtown, Cooper-Young and Orange Mound at roughly 1,500 ft on final, while departures climb out over the Whitehaven edge and straight over Southaven, Mississippi; the state line is only about 3 km south of the field. North flow (the 36s) reverses this, sending departures over Orange Mound and Midtown and bringing arrivals in over DeSoto County. The crosswind runway 9/27 is used selectively, mainly for extra inbound capacity from the east and west during the FedEx arrival peaks — when it opens, Fox Meadows and Parkway Village to the east and Whitehaven to the west pick up low crossing traffic.

There is no formal runway-use program, but a set of locally adopted noise-abatement procedures — confirmed by the airport in Boeing’s noise database in 2011 — does apply. Turbojets below 3,000 ft are to be kept clear of residential areas north of Holmes Road East on either side of the 18L/18R extended centerlines; turbojet departures off runway 27 may not turn south until passing 3,000 ft or 2 miles from the runway end; 18L/36R is the stated preferential runway; and engine run-ups are limited to designated areas between 6 AM and 10 PM. All routings are overland — the Mississippi River lies just west but is not used as a noise corridor, and no continuous-descent-arrival program is published.

The scale of the FedEx operation is what sets MEM apart. Industry accounts describe 150-plus freighters converging on the field for the night sort and simultaneous parallel-runway operations peaking above 300 movements per hour — figures that would rank among the busiest passenger hubs anywhere, compressed into a few overnight hours.

When is it quietest?

MEM’s daily noise profile is inverted relative to a normal passenger airport — the deepest quiet at most hubs (2–5 AM) is the loudest window here. The FedEx waves define the rhythm:

10 PM – 1 AM: the inbound night sort. Freighters stream in from every direction, stacking onto the parallels — and onto 9/27 when extra capacity is needed.
2 AM – 5 AM: the outbound wave, typically the loudest hours of the day. Heavy widebody freighters depart in rapid succession, climbing out over Southaven in south flow or Orange Mound and Midtown in north flow.
5 AM – 8 AM: a relative lull between the night departure push and the morning traffic, with passenger flights ramping up.
8 AM – 1 PM: the daytime inbound wave plus passenger traffic — sustained but lighter than the night peaks.
2 PM – 5 PM: the daytime outbound wave.
6 PM – 10 PM: generally the calmest stretch, before the inbound night sort begins.

Passenger traffic at MEM is modest by hub standards, so daytime noise between the cargo waves is comparatively light. For residents under the corridors, evenings are the reliable quiet window — and anyone sensitive to nighttime noise should treat 10 PM – 5 AM as the main event, not the exception. Wind matters too: a switch from south flow to north flow moves the departure wave from over Southaven to over Orange Mound and Midtown.

How to check noise at your specific address

The map above is the answer to “is this spot loud?” 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 that opens 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 flight corridors) make the parallel-runway pattern obvious — a bright north–south band running from Midtown down across the state line, with a fainter east–west band from runway 9/27. At MEM, the hourly breakdown is the number that matters most: two addresses with similar daily averages can differ enormously in how much of that noise lands between 2 and 5 AM. If night noise is your concern, check the overnight hours specifically before committing to an address under the corridors.

Frequently asked questions

Why are planes so loud in Memphis at night?: Memphis International is the FedEx Express global superhub — the busiest cargo airport in the Americas — and its overnight sort inverts the normal airport noise pattern. Widely cited industry figures put 150-plus freighters converging between roughly 10 PM and 1 AM, then departing between about 2 and 5 AM, with combined movements reportedly peaking above 300 per hour across the parallel runways. If you hear a steady stream of heavy jets at 3 AM, that's the outbound FedEx wave. Drop a pin on the map above to see the hourly profile at your address.
What time do the FedEx planes fly at night in Memphis?: The night sort runs in two waves — arrivals concentrate from roughly 10 PM to 1 AM, and departures from roughly 2 AM to 5 AM. There are also daytime waves, with arrivals from about 8 AM to 1 PM and departures from about 2 PM to 5 PM. The quietest gaps tend to fall between the waves, in the early morning after the departure push and in the evening before the inbound sort begins.
How do I complain about aircraft noise in Memphis?: The Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority (MSCAA) runs a noise hotline at (901) 922-8044, listed on the airport's environment pages at flymemphis.com. Note the airport itself says the US Airport Noise and Capacity Act of 1990 prevents it from restricting night operations, so complaints inform monitoring and planning rather than triggering flight bans.
Is Cooper-Young in the Memphis airport flight path?: Yes. Cooper-Young and the surrounding Midtown blocks sit about 9 km north of the field near the runway 18R final approach, so in south flow — the most common configuration — arrivals descend overhead, and in north flow departures climb out over the same area. Local press has described the neighborhood as squarely in the MEM flight path. Exposure is moderate compared with close-in areas like Oakhaven or Whitehaven; drop a pin on the map to compare specific streets.
Does Memphis airport noise affect Southaven, Mississippi?: Significantly. The Tennessee–Mississippi state line is only about 3 km south of the airfield, and eastern Southaven sits directly under the extended centerlines of the three parallel runways. In south flow that means the 2–5 AM FedEx departure wave climbs out directly over Southaven; in north flow it gets the arrival stream instead. Horn Lake, slightly west of the corridors, gets turning departures rather than straight-out traffic.
Which Memphis neighborhoods have the least airplane noise?: Areas well east of the north–south runway corridors do best — Germantown, East Memphis around Colonial and Yorkshire, and most of Hickory Hill see only high, dispersed traffic, mainly when the east–west crosswind runway 9/27 is active. The most affected areas are Oakhaven, Whitehaven, Orange Mound and eastern Southaven. Use the pin-drop tool above to check any specific address.
Did Memphis airport buy out homes because of noise?: Yes — the mitigation history here is among the largest in the US. Per the airport-confirmed noise summary in Boeing's database, roughly 1,400 homes and churches have been acquired since 1988, and a class-action lawsuit filed in 1989 and certified in 1993 was settled with payments to about 12,000 households in exchange for avigation easements. Total mitigation spending is put at about $116 million.
Is Memphis International Airport changing its name?: The Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority board voted in June 2025 to rename the airport Frederick W. Smith International Airport, honoring the late FedEx founder. The name was submitted to the FAA and was still pending approval as of early 2026. The MEM and KMEM airport codes are unchanged, and none of this affects flight paths or noise.

Sources and further reading

Noise Control FAQ — Memphis International Airport (MSCAA)
Environment (Noise Compatibility Planning) — Memphis International Airport (MSCAA)
Airport Noise Regulation Information: Memphis International Airport — Boeing
Memphis International Airport — Wikipedia
KMEM — Memphis International Airport — AirNav / FAA data
Memphians: Airport's noisy delivery OK — Marketplace (APM)

Data updated 2026-10-18 — 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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Memphis Flight Path Noise Map – Memphis International Airport (MEM)

Aircraft noise around Memphis in October 2026

Does Memphis 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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