CHICAGO – The Chicago Department of Aviation (CDA) reminds residents that the Fly Quiet Runway Rotation Test 2 for O’Hare International Airport will begin on the evening of Sunday, April 30, 2017.

The second runway rotation test, approved by the Federal Aviation Administration in March 2017, is designed to achieve a more balanced distribution of noise exposure for Chicago and suburban communities surrounding O’Hare during overnight hours.

Fly Quiet Runway Rotation Test 2 is a 12-week test in which the designated nighttime arrival and departure runways at O’Hare will be rotated each week. The weekly schedule was developed with an approach that utilizes east-west parallel runways and diagonal runways. The test applies to overnight hours in which demand can be served by a single arrival or departure runway, or a mixed-use runway that handles both arrivals and departures. The rotation schedule is designed to minimize the impact of aircraft noise to communities with the same operation type (arrival or departure) for two consecutive weeks.

An important component of the 12-week test is to obtain community feedback. The CDA maintains a webpage dedicated to the Fly Quiet Runway Rotation Tests, where residents can learn about the rotation test, view the week by week rotation schedule and provide feedback through a brief online survey. The CDA will track nighttime flights at O’Hare throughout the 12-week test period. The direct link to the webpage is here: www.flychicago.com/flyquiettest.

The CDA is also preparing for a potential third test to occur this year at the request of the O’Hare Noise Compatibility Commission (ONCC). The third rotation test would be similar to the first and second, except that Runway 15-33 would not be included in any of the designated Fly Quiet runway configurations. The CDA expects to decommission Runway 15-33 in Spring of 2018. Runway 15-33 is being decommissioned to enable construction of the western portion of future Runway 9C-27C. The decommissioning of Runway 15-33 was contemplated in the O'Hare Modernization Program Environmental Impact Statement that was approved in 2005.

The first (completed), second and third Fly Quiet Runway Rotation tests will be used to develop a new interim Fly Quiet Program that will be in place from spring 2018 until Runway 9C/27C opens in fall 2020.