Why You May Be Seeing More Planes Flying Over Southern Maine

Driving home from work, I have seen several low-flying planes over the past week as I drove along Route 302, and now I know why. If you live in Westbrook, Windham, Portland, Scarborough, South Portland, or other southern Maine towns, you may have noticed these same planes flying over your house.

According to WMTW, Jetport officials say their primary East/West runway has been closed since Sept. 11, for an improvement project and they plan to reopen it on Sept. 25.

In the meantime, the Jetport has to work with one runway rather than two and that runway just happens to run from north to south. Those low planes we've seen are headed in for a landing on the North/South runway.

Not everyone is happy about this new change in the flight pattern, especially those who live close to the Jetport and hear the roar of the jet engines as they take off and land.

Living in Windham, it's not the first time we've had heavier air traffic overhead. When the main runway running West to East has to shut down for any reason, the planes change course for takeoffs and landings to the other runway, and the flight path runs through many residential areas. It can be loud and disturbing, but these planes have to land.

I'm not complaining, however. I'm not bothered by it and think it's kind of cool to see those jet planes flying low. But I know others miss the quiet evenings without the air traffic.

Hang in there. The main runway is set to re-open on September 24.