Jenny Shallenberger of West Somerville doesn't have to set her alarm anymore. The planes do the job for her.
They start flying overhead at 6 a.m. several times a week. "When it's at its worst," she said, "you can hear it over the vacuum cleaner with your windows shut."
Somerville has been inundated with complaints since the city asked residents to call about plane noise in July. Now, officials are charging that Logan isn't keeping its promise that the opening of runway 32 last November wouldn't dramatically change traffic patterns.
The problem is increased use of runway 33L, which sends departures bee-lining over Somerville. From 2006 to 2007, departures from 33L increased from 6.2 percent of Logan's total to 21.7 percent, according to the Massachusetts Port Authority.
The change has been dramatic, said Somerville's mayor, Joseph Curtatone. "It's affecting our quality of life."
One caller to the city's 311 line recorded 13 planes in a little more than a half-hour on Sept. 23. On Oct. 13, one caller estimated 30 to 40 planes flew overhead between 7 a.m. and 1 p.m.
Massport's manager of aviation planning, Flavio Leo, chalked up the increase to an unusual level of northwesterly winds.
"This is New England," he noted. Airplanes have to take off and land into the wind, he said, and "the use of the runway pretty much tracks the wind pattern at the airport."
The FAA, not Massport, sets airplane traffic patterns.
All apparently agree that usage of runway 33L went through the roof during six windy days in June, when 60 percent of departures flew over Somerville. City spokesman Tom Champion said he thinks those incidents sensitized people to the noise.
The city contends that Logan is using the runway far more frequently than wind dictates. Champion, who used to work for Massport, said the FAA has some leeway when the wind is under 10 knots.
Shallenberger said she obtained weather reports from Massport and doesn't see a pattern.
Jim Peters, FAA's New England spokesman, confirmed that operational efficiency comes into play when choosing traffic patterns. Logan's longest runway, 33, is often used for large, heavily laden jets.
Curtatone said the heavier usage could be a consequence of new runway 32. "We need to distribute the air traffic and their consequences a little more fairly and equitably."
Logan's Preferential Runway Advisory System is supposed to handle this - dictating that, whenever possible, the FAA should choose runway configurations that balance noise around the region.
Runway decisions, however, are "not driven by noise," Peters said. "They're driven by safety first, and then organizational efficiency."
Leo said airplane noise is a zero-sum game.
"Somerville is not being picked on," he said. Runway 27 sends planes over the South End and Jamaica Plain; runway 22 over East Boston, South Boston, and Revere.
The FAA will revisit the advisory system in the next two years of a Logan noise study. The first-phase report was released on Oct. 16, and can be viewed at bostonoverflightnoisestudy.com. In August, city officials met with Massport, which shared statistics, and complained to the FAA. The FAA stated that they were welcome to join the noise study.
