NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — After nearly two years of complaints about increased airplane traffic over South Nashville neighborhoods, Metro Council is formally putting its support behind residents asking for a greater voice in decisions about flight paths.
Council members voted Thursday night to approve a substitute resolution 25-2, with one abstention.
The resolution asks the Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority to continue sharing residents' concerns with the Federal Aviation Administration, make relevant aircraft and noise information available to the public and notify affected residents about future FAA proposals involving significant changes to departure procedures.
But there's an important limitation: neither Metro Council nor the airport authority can independently change the departure headings. The FAA controls them.
"I do want to make it clear we do not have any authority over the FAA and what their choice of flight patterns is," Councilmember Mike Cortese, who sponsored the resolution, said during the council meeting. "The goal of this is to make sure the community's voice is elevated."
For Kelly Insana, president of Course Correct Nashville and a Crieve Hall resident, the fight has become deeply personal.
Insana and her husband have spent years renovating the home where they wanted to raise their family.
"We over 15 years have built on and renovated and made it in our dream home," Insana said. "And it's where we wanna stay."
But Insana said the increase in aircraft noise has left them wondering whether staying will be possible.
"And that's sad when you sit here and sometimes have tears in your eyes and go, are we gonna move?" she said.
Insana said that on some days, the disruption can begin early in the morning and continue late into the night.
"It's five a.m. till midnight some days," Insana said. "I can tell you anyone that lives under these paths has said, I wake up when the plane, I don't even start an alarm anymore. I wake up at five a.m. when the planes start."
The resolution says residents in portions of southern Davidson County have reported substantial increases in aircraft activity following the implementation of the new departure headings, including more than 150 flights over some homes on certain days and noise levels reaching as high as 90 decibels.
Insana stressed that residents aren't asking the FAA to simply shift the aircraft noise from their neighborhoods to someone else's.
"We are absolutely not saying just move this to some other neighborhood," Insana said. "That is not what this is. That wouldn't be fair."
Instead, she said residents want the aircraft spread out more evenly.
"What we're saying is, of course, we'll have some traffic. We expect that living in a city. But let's make sure it's dispersed fairly and appropriately," she said.
The FAA has said its proposed departure-heading changes were designed to improve the lateral and vertical separation of aircraft and allow air traffic controllers to move aircraft more efficiently. The agency's materials also described the proposed headings as being designed to disperse departing aircraft.
The resolution sparked debate among council members over whether a non-binding measure can realistically make a difference when Metro has no authority to change FAA flight paths.
One council member who supported the resolution acknowledged that limitation but argued the council still represents people affected by the aircraft every day.
Other members expressed concern that Metro could give residents false hope about its ability to influence the FAA.
Ultimately, the resolution passed 25-2 with one abstention.
For Insana, the significance of the vote is having another level of local government publicly supporting the residents' concerns.
"This is us advocating for change," Insana said. "And that can be a long process, but it never hurts to have more support. And so any support we can get along the way is only gonna move us a little bit more forward."
When NewsChannel 5 reached out to the FAA about the flight path dispute in September, the agency declined to comment because of the pending litigation.
At the time, however, FAA officials pointed to a virtual public workshop held March 6, 2025, with Nashville International Airport and other aviation stakeholders.
The agency says the workshop was held to explain the proposed changes to departure headings and procedures around BNA and give members of the community an opportunity to ask questions. The FAA's website says the purpose of the workshop was to share information and answer questions about the departure headings.
More information about the workshop and the changes is available on the FAA's Community Engagement Nashville page.
The council resolution is only one part of the broader fight over the flight paths.
Course Correct Nashville, the City of Oak Hill, the Crieve Hall Neighborhood Association and Insana are also challenging the FAA's decisions in federal court.
Insana said the group has been told a judge will make a decision about the future of the case on Dec. 3.
After Course Correct Nashville began organizing, Insana said she started hearing from people across the area who thought they were dealing with the problem alone.
"We've just heard from so many citizens across this area saying, yeah, me too. I just thought I was alone," Insana said. "Or people will call me crying saying, I've been so upset about this and I just felt like there's nothing I could do about it."
For residents, she said both the lawsuit and the council resolution are ultimately about making sure their concerns are heard.
Do you have more information about this story? You can email me at Patsy.Montesinos@NewsChannel5.com
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