KC Airport Flight Path over Parkville/Thousand Oaks

[Gibby3000]

Okay - must be different than Minneapolis then. I grew up near the airport and aircraft noise was deafening - not something I got used to or would want to live by. I have noticed it's pretty dead at the KC airport and I guess chances are pretty good it's not going to turn into a major hub in my lifetime.

[kcmo]

Originally Posted by Gibby3000

Okay - must be different than Minneapolis then. I grew up near the airport and aircraft noise was deafening - not something I got used to or would want to live by. I have noticed it's pretty dead at the KC airport and I guess chances are pretty good it's not going to turn into a major hub in my lifetime.

KC's airport feels very dead because of the way it is set up. There are no central concourses and therefore, there is very little retail/restaurants. In most airports, people will pass through massive terminals to get to gates. At KCI, you just go straight to your gate. It’s odd and creates what seems like one of the deadest big city airports in the country, yet if you happen to land or take off at that same time at one or two other planes or if there are delays, the place fails in that aspect as well. KCI is convenient to locals and easy to use (I’m a frequent flyer), but KC has go to get over that and build a decent terminal someday. It’s a horrible airport once you are in the terminals.

The reason I bring all that up is because I don’t want you to get the impression that service out of KCI is lacking. KCI actually has great service to nearly every major city and at a fraction of the cost of a hub airport like MSP. I don’t want KCI to become a hub, I just want the terminal to be brought up to 2009 (or 1990) standards. Other than the weird terminal set up, it’s an awesome airport.

But the main reason KCI is not a big issue to KC area residents is the area it takes up and the buffer zone around it along with the flight patterns the planes use to land and take off. The 3 runways are very spread out too. Planes come in from the north and south most times. There is nothing north of the runways and when landing from the south, the plans are coming in at a pretty extreme northeast angle. They typically travel over I-435 and don’t really cross too far in developed area till they get to about 152 by then they have passed everything. If they use the east west runway, planes just fly over Leavenworth. But again, the airports takes up such a massive area that the planes don’t drop down low enough to create a noise issue till they are within a few miles of KCI and there is nothing around the airport itself.

I always get a chuckle out of listing to people talk about KC and KCI when they fly into it. You will typically see absolutely not signs of a city what so ever when you land at KCI and when you enter the terminals, the only people you will typically see are the people that were on the plane with you and the people waiting for your plane’s next flight. People ask where the city is and are under the impression that KCI is a very tiny airport, even though they only saw 5% of it. Then they take the 50 mile drive to Overland Park through the middle of nowhere via 435 and it’s no wonder KC has such as rural image.

Bottom line, don’t worry about KCI noise, but KCI is a much busier airport than it feels.

[Gibby3000]

I like the airport - it's very quick in and out - and lots of non-stop flights to MSP. DH is a very frequently flyer worldwide and he has no problems with KCI - likes the quick in and out too. Rarely any lines or congestion of any type. There's nothing much inside the airport but you don't really need anything since you're not making a connection and you don't have to get there very early because there's no lines. Parking is easy and cheap too.

[RjRobb2]

I was hanging out about 10 miles from the airport this weekend and plane were constantly flying over. I could barely hear them. If I couldnt see them, I wouldnt of noticed them.

[Okey Dokie]

I lived for 20 years at approx. 101st and N. Oak directly on the glide path for the east-west runway. I admit the first few days I lived there the noise bothered me some but I quickly got used to it. Like living near train tracks, you don't even hear it after a while. Some years ago they closed the east-west runway for several months for repairs and it wasn't until about two months into it that I noticed there were no planes going over the house. There are very few flights in or out after 10:30 p.m. Also, depending on the wind direction, there are many days that the E-W or the N-S runways will not be in use at all. Bottom line - don't worry about the noise.

As far as Thousand Oaks, it was developed by Dave and John Barth (who also developed the subdivision I lived in) and they have a good group of builders they use and do a good job of development (IMO).