City Houston v. J. L. Mcfadden

This is a suit for damages. J. L. McFadden sued the City of Houston for damages alleged to have been caused by the continual flying of jet airplanes over his home property located in South Houston Gardens. McFaddens property consists of a tract of 4 2/3 acres of land on which he has erected a one-story frame house having a dimension of 22 feet by 38 feet, with three bedrooms, a living room, a breakfast room and a kitchen. Adjoining the home is a metal barn and building and three kennels. The home is near and east-southeast of the Houston International Airport, owned and operated by the City of Houston. It is alleged and shown that private and commercial airplanes fly near the air spacing over plaintiffs home. In 1960, the City extended the runway or landing strip in an easterly direction so as to make possible the landing and taking off of jet propelled aircraft, which required a much longer runway or landing strip. It was shown that the planes fly low over plaintiffs home when taking off and landing and that this occurs at frequent intervals during the day and night. The planes are large and heavy. Most of them are four-motored planes which create loud noises and intense vibrations. At night the lights on the planes illuminate plaintiffs home and yard with a blinding glare. The plaintiff and his neighbors testified as to physical damage to their properties, in the form of vibrations; broken windows; cracks in the walls; and jet fuel spraying the homes, necessitating repainting. The intensity of the noise due to overflights was recorded by Reese Brinsal, an accoustical engineer, at up to 109 decibels. His testimony shows that it would be practically impossible to communicate during that sound level background. The record shows that large planes fly as low as 80 feet from the top of plaintiffs home, and that this occurs for extended periods at intervals of approximately fifteen minutes.