Airplane noise in Pentagon/ Crystal Cities? (Alexandria, Vienna: apartment, to rent, house)

[HB2HSV]

Hi folks,

First time posting here in the NOVA forum . We are planning to move here for my job in DC and are considering the Pentagon City/ Crystal City areas. Looking at the map and seeing how they are in/ near the Reagan National airport flight path, I am worry that the airplane noise might be bothersome. What are your experience?

Thanks.

[Carlingtonian]

Originally Posted by HB2HSV

Hi folks,

First time posting here in the NOVA forum . We are planning to move here for my job in DC and are considering the Pentagon City/ Crystal City areas. Looking at the map and seeing how they are in/ near the Reagan National airport flight path, I am worry that the airplane noise might be bothersome. What are your experience?

Thanks.

You will definitely hear airplanes there--unless your apartment building has a high level of soundproofing.

The one bit of good news is that flights at DCA are restricted to (I believe) 6AM-10PM--so you won't hear planes in the wee hours of the morning.

[ACWhite]

We (22202 west of the highway) are not in the flight path. Airplane noise is only rarely an issue. It was FAR worse when we lived in the Palisades area NW of Georgetown.

This may interest you:

http://www.metwashairports.com/reagan/1271.htm

My neighbor (engineering degree) brought a sound meter to check levels before buying his house and was satisfied with the noise level. You could try that too.

I can't speak for the residents of the towers north of the airport.

I can say that it is a HUGE advantage to live near the airport if you travel even a moderate amount.

[RusUs]

HB2HSV, welcome to NoVA! It is a great place to live!

We lived in an apartment building in Crystal City a few years ago and the airplane noise did not bother me at all (there was also a fire station near by that adds to that noise). But this is my personal experience of a person who comes from a large city, and therefore what is quite for me, can be loud for a person coming here from suburbs or country. I liked Crystal City and was happy living there, but for my husband it was too urban.

Do you have to rent now before actually moving here? If you could postpone renting until coming here, it should help you to make the right decision if you visit Crystal City/Pentagon City areas during various times of the day/evening and listen/feel the area. Good luck!

[ACWhite]

Wouldn't you know it? Last night three very noisy helicopters flew low to the ground. I forgot to mention that these do occur though infrequently. Unfortunately they don't follow the same flight plans as do the jets. If you google it, you'll find info about several communities' attempts to control this problem.

[HB2HSV]

Thanks for the info guys. Much appreciate them

RusUs - thanks for the welcome! We look forward to the move. You have a good point about it maybe too urban for us who are used to smaller cities & suburbs. We will expand our search to old town, Alexandria, as well. I will work off L'Enfant plaza so I'd like to stay near the Yellow Line.

[RusUs]

HB2HSV,

You can also check area around Vienna metro station (Orange line) which has a few appts buildings near the station. Vienna is quite and not as urban as Crystal City, but it will be a longer commute to L.Plaza.

In the past I commuted Vienna - Metro Center by metro and it took 30 min. So to get to L.Plaza from Vienna, it will probably add an extra 10 min which is not bad for DC :-)

http://www.wmata.com/rail/docs/colormap_lettersize.pdf

[Carlingtonian]

Just spoke with a friend who lives in The Concord at Crystal City, and he said the airplane noise is actually not bad at all. Go figure.

[ACWhite]

Originally Posted by Carlingtonian

Just spoke with a friend who lives in The Concord at Crystal City, and he said the airplane noise is actually not bad at all. Go figure.

That's good to know. I think the planes are required to take off and land over the river, approaching/departing from the north or south, to avoid the neighborhoods as much as possible as the planes get closer to/depart from the runways. Some of the newer buildings probably have more soundproofing.

[Carlingtonian]

Originally Posted by ACWhite

That's good to know. I think the planes are required to take off and land over the river, approaching/departing from the north or south, to avoid the neighborhoods as much as possible as the planes get closer to/depart from the runways. Some of the newer buildings probably have more soundproofing.

At the same time, when we used to live north of Ballston in 22207 (Cherrydale), we heard planes all the time. I even called the FAA and my then-congressman to complain. But the helicopters were as bad or worse.