The Airplane Fight Over Oak Hill Is Becoming a Fight Over Data

When the FAA explained new departure headings at Nashville International Airport in March 2025, it said the point was to spread planes out. So why did the City of Oak Hill spend September 2026 hiring lawyers to say the opposite happened?

The jets heading south over Franklin Pike, Otter Creek Road and the ridges around Radnor Lake State Park come from FAA decisions that are now a federal case. Oak Hill is a plaintiff. A Metro Council resolution on the November 5 agenda could shift the city's official request away from changing the route and toward getting the airport to publish its flight and noise numbers.

What the FAA Said It Was Building

At a public workshop on March 6, 2025, the FAA and BNA presented the proposed departure changes and took questions from the community. NewsChannel 5 later replayed what Andrew Pieroni of the FAA said that day:

"The goal is to increase the efficiency in operation and disperse aircraft headings. This should allow for more diverse flight paths and enhance the airspace and proficiency of the operations."

The FAA's workshop boards show what that looked like on paper. For south-flow days, the proposal set out four headings that could be used from any of BNA's three parallel runways. They were designed to spread departures out roughly a mile from the runway. North-flow days got three headings. Those boards show the proposal, though, not the final order. According to the court petition, the final heading order took effect November 27, 2025, and the FAA amended it on July 9, 2026.

The FAA found that the changes would not cause significant noise impacts. That made them eligible for a categorical exclusion, so no full environmental assessment or environmental impact statement was required, NewsChannel 5 reported from the court filings. That finding is now at the center of the challenge.

What Residents Say Happened Instead

The petitioners say the changes put more air traffic over the Oak Hill area and Radnor Lake State Park instead of spreading it out. WSMV reported that this was the core of the complaint. Kelly Insana, president of the community coalition Course Correct Nashville, said in the same story that the issue is not that planes fly overhead at all:

"We've always had air traffic. That is not an issue. We are in a big city. This is about it being condensed over one small area."

The figures behind that complaint come from residents and the coalition. They are not airport-verified measurements, and they vary depending on who is counting and when.

The 52% figure is the coalition's own, measured only on days that heading is in use. Insana built her argument on it: "Why does one flight path have 52% of the departures if there's others to choose from?" The four rows don't agree with each other, and they can't settle the question.

Kellee Johnson, a Course Correct Nashville member, told NewsChannel 5 that process was a bigger concern for her than the sound itself. "What we're more concerned about than the noise, because it's kind of to be expected, is that the fair process and governance wasn't followed by the FAA," she said.

How Oak Hill Became a Party to the Case

The city did not lead this fight. It joined one that was already under way, over two meetings. Mayor Dale Grimes laid out the steps in his September letter to residents.

1. November 27, 2025. The FAA's final heading order takes effect.
2. July 9, 2026. The FAA amends that order.
3. August 25, 2026. At the Board of Commissioners meeting, the City Manager reports on the new routes and the noise complaints from Oak Hill residents. He also reports that the Crieve Hall Neighborhood Association has hired legal counsel. The Board votes 5–0 to keep investigating.
4. September 1, 2026. At a special called meeting, the Board votes 5–0 to join the legal action and to negotiate an engagement with the law firm Thompson Burton.
5. September 2026. The petition, dated September 4, is docketed on September 8 in the Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals as Case No. 26-3812, City of Oak Hill, TN, et al. v. FAA, et al. The petitioners are the City of Oak Hill, Course Correct Nashville, the Crieve Hall Neighborhood Association and Insana.
6. October 25, 2026. The Sixth Circuit's pending agency cases report lists 26-3812 as "nr." The report defines that as a case that is not ready to be briefed.

The petition asks the FAA to route departures away from homes when another option exists and to run a trial of alternative routes that measures flights and noise, WSMV reported. The FAA declined to comment to NewsChannel 5 because the case is pending. With the case not yet at briefing, a court answer is not coming this fall.

The WSMV story links to the full petition for anyone who wants to read the filing.

The November 5 Vote and the Word "Final"

Metro Council is where things could move sooner. Councilmember Mike Cortese filed RS2026-2324 on September 29. It asks the Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority to work with the FAA on behalf of residents affected by the changes in BNA's traffic patterns. The Council deferred it on October 6, and it is on the November 5 agenda.

The resolution has a proposed amendment attached, and it would change the request in a meaningful way. According to WKRN, the amended version would:

• remove the references to residents reporting more than 150 flights a day and noise reaching 90 decibels
• drop the request that the airport authority work with the FAA to review the effects of the flight patterns
• ask the airport authority to pass residents' concerns along to the FAA instead
• ask the airport authority to make aircraft and noise information public
• ask the airport authority to notify affected residents of future FAA changes to departures
• add language saying the FAA has told several state and local elected officials that the departure headings put in place in 2025 are final

That last item puts the FAA's position into the Council's own record. It also turns the city's request from reviewing the route into publishing the data, which speaks directly to the gap in the table above. If the airport authority released aircraft and noise information, the 52%, 80% and 160-planes figures would have something official to be checked against. Insana told WKRN she had only just received the amendment and had not fully reviewed it, and she disputed the idea that the matter is settled. WKRN also noted the language could change again before the Council takes final action.

Where a Noise Report Goes Today

For now, the official record comes from two complaint systems. The City of Oak Hill's October 2 update points residents to both.

• BNA's noise concern form takes complaints about a specific aircraft or general noise. It asks for the date, time and location of the disturbance.
• The FAA's noise complaint portal is the federal channel, and the city's update links to it directly.
• Course Correct Nashville runs the coalition's newsletter, legal fund and a form letter to elected officials. The city's update names state Sen. Heidi Campbell, state Rep. Caleb Hemmer and Councilman Cortese among the officials who support the effort.

If the amended resolution passes on November 5 and the airport authority follows through, the aircraft and noise information it asks for would be public for residents in Oak Hill and Crieve Hall to see.

The headings over Oak Hill are part of daily life here now, so we're following this case and the November 5 vote alongside the rest of the south Nashville market. If you'd like to talk through what's changing on your street or around Radnor Lake, Your Nashville Agent is happy to have that conversation, and we can pair it with a free home valuation whenever you're ready.