How do city, FAA figure on runway use?

So what exactly is going on at O'Hare Airport with the city of Chicago and the FAA?

The city's Runway Utilization Reports for March and April 2015 have confirmed my suspicions that the city and FAA are consistently over utilizing the northerly runway, 9L for arrivals from the west.

This is the runway whose approach is directly through the heart of Elk Grove Village, over the hospital, the hospice residence, senior housing, the park district's theme and water parks and thousands of residential homes.

The constant noise is unbearable. In April, the city and the FAA used runway 9L for 18 percent of the daytime arrivals, which is more than double the forecast number of daytime arriving flights published in the FAA's Final Environmental Impact Statement, which was presumably used in the approval of the O'Hare Modernization Plan.

Runway 9L is also consistently in use three to four days a week for 12 hours a day, or 80 percent of the daytime hours. March also exceeded the forecasts in both areas.

According to the percentages identified in the EIS, runway 9L is to be utilized for 8.8 percent of the daytime arriving flights in a typical 24-hour day. In addition, the runway is only to be in use 4.4 percent of the day.

Are the city and FAA in violation of the report that was used for the approval of the expansion? Do the city and FAA get to do whatever they want without any consequences? And, when does 19 percent actual utilization equal 8.8 percent forecast utilization, and 80 percent actual in-use time equal 4.4 percent forecast in-use time?

The answer to the final question seemingly is, apparently whenever the city of Chicago and the FAA are doing the math.

Alan Boffice

Elk Grove Village