Millions of dollars, Hundreds of jobs, but hey, it is noisy.

I read Mike Dunn’s “My View” column in the Register Star last December and it stuck with me. The executive director of Rockford’s airport wrote about the facility’s tremendous growth, the 1.9 billion pounds of cargo that moved through it in 2020, and a dizzying list of other metrics he cited as evidence of the airport’s success.

What he neglected to mention is the toll the airport’s excessive noise is taking on Rockford citizens and their quality of life. The 66 daily UPS flights, countless Amazon cargo jets, and other activity he mentions follow a flight pattern that operates mostly from north to south and follows the Rock River. This means the thunderous booming of jets often passes every five minutes all day and all night directly over some of the city’s greatest urban assets: our near east and near west side residential neighborhoods.

These communities are within a mile or two of the Rock River. People like me chose these neighborhoods because they were quiet and convenient with mature trees and one-of-a-kind homes. We did not choose to be underneath a flight pattern with a nonstop procession of roaring planes that shriek if they descend too quickly.

Wouldn’t it be smart to figure out how to route planes away from the rooftops so that we can all truly celebrate the airport’s progress, revenue, and job creation while also preserving the unique older neighborhoods that give Rockford its great character and identity?

— Susan Kasten, Rockford