GOODYEAR, AZ — A recent plane crash in the Goodyear community has an awareness group on high alert.
On the morning of Saturday, Feb. 10, a small plane flying from the Glendale airport crashed after a mechanical issue.
Officials say the plane was trying to land at the Phoenix-Goodyear Airport but the engine lost power. Upon landing, officials reported property damage, but no one was hurt.
The plane stopped in the middle of Via Villa Street, right outside of the front door of Lorena’s Goodyear home.
The smell and the sounds are anxiety-provoking for Lorena and her family.
“Now that I hear an aircraft going, it just scares us,” she said a day after picking up debris in her front yard. She added she got a headache from the smell of the leaked fuel.
Days after the crash, neighbors say spill absorber lies throughout the street to sop up fuel that leaked from the plane.
Before this incident, two former pilots had been looking to the Goodyear skies more than they’d like.
Bryan McCarty and James Gordon are two members of an organization called Quiet Skies Goodyear. Gordon once owned a Cessna plane for a decade, regularly flying as a hobby.
McCarty is a retired Lieutenant Colonel who flew as a fighter pilot with the Air Force for 20 years.
“We are pilot advocates, and we fly,” said McCarty.
They’ve been broadly vocal about their issues with the frequency of air traffic over their community. They regularly give public comment on the matter at city meetings.
The Phoenix-Goodyear Airport says its facility is among the busiest single-runway airports in the United States.
It is home to the only major airline that houses a flight training school, United. Aspiring pilots can start their journey to become commercial airline pilots, which includes a minimum of 1,500 hours needed.
”Before this flight school moved in, it was really quiet. Now we’re just inundated, 18 hours a day, on Sunday morning...constant noise,” said McCarty.
In a statement, United said: “We’ve worked with Goodyear airport and city leaders to change flight procedures in ways that should reduce noise around the airport, including shifting the air traffic pattern when safety allows.”
The Goodyear airport is owned by the City of Phoenix, so Sky Harbor shared data that there have been thousands more flight-noise complaints recently.
In 2022, the Phoenix-Goodyear Airport measured more than 500 complaints coming from 14 households. In 2023, the complaints shot up to nearly 12,500, however, those complaints came from just 17 households.
In a prior story, ABC15 heard from some residents irked by the noise while others said this is just a part of living in Goodyear. The flight path and air traffic are explained to homeowners before they purchase their homes.
Sky Harbor added they’ve launched a noise abatement program that meets monthly to reduce flight noise. Part of that looks to educate pilots to keep flight patterns south of I-10 and to maintain a minimum altitude when north of I-10, if allowed.
McCarty and Gordon know there’s a lot to think about when in a cockpit but they ask those pilots over Goodyear to consider the people below.
“When we’re at our house, and we can’t conduct business or have guests at our house because of their constant noise, just because it’s legal – doesn’t make it right,” said Gordon.
