Ever wonder what factors most influence which runways are used for aircraft departing from Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP)?  On Monday, February 2, 2015, Elaine Buckner, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Air Traffic Control (ATC) Manager at MSP, gave a presentation to the Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC) Planning, Development and Environment (PD&E) committee on just that topic. Ms. Buckner's presentation included a discussion of the following:

An October 24, 2014 article published by the Airport Noise Report (Volume 26, Number 35) indicated that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is being urged by legal experts, community representatives, and airport representatives to ask the United States Congress for clarification on the legislative intent of specific provisions for the CatEx2 categorical exclusion pertaining to a "Net Noise Reduction Method" when evaluating environmental effects associated with implementation of measures mandated in the FAA Modernization

The Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP) Noise Oversight Committee (NOC) met on January 21, 2015 and received an update on aircraft activity associated with MSP, and discussed several topics related to aircraft noise, weather, the federal environmental review process for categorical exclusions and more.

The NOC also heard presentations provided by two guest speakers: Mr. Michael Griesinger from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Weather Service; and Pat Mosites, MAC Residential Noise Mitigation Program Manager.