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Understanding Airport Noise: A Conversation with RDU's Noise Officer
Welcome back to our channel! In this episode, hosts Erica and Melody introduce John Wiatrak, the Airport Authority Noise Officer for Raleigh-Durham International Airport (RDU). John sheds light on his role and how he manages the thousands of noise complaints RDU receives annually. He also discusses his lifelong experience in aviation, the intricacies of flight paths, the impact of wind on flight patterns, and the future developments for the airport, including the Transform RDU project. John also provides tips on mitigating airport noise for residents and talks about the exciting advances in aviation, including quieter planes and the potential future use of autonomous passenger drones. This episode is packed with valuable insights and is essential viewing for anyone living near RDU or interested in the complexities of airport operations.
00:00 Welcome and Introductions
00:18 Meet John Wiatrak: The Airport Authority Noise Officer
02:27 Understanding Airport Noise and Flight Paths
03:19 Impact of Wind on Flight Paths
04:30 Community Concerns and Noise Complaints
10:52 RDU's Growth and Future Plans
13:18 Noise Mitigation Strategies
16:19 Military Flights and Community Impact
18:19 Transform RDU: Upcoming Renovations
25:56 John's Daily Routine and Community Engagement
29:33 Community Education and Communication
30:59 Understanding Flight Paths and Noise
32:11 Population Growth and Air Traffic
33:13 Impact of Delivery Services on Noise
35:10 Future of Autonomous Drones
40:41 Private Jets and General Aviation
42:30 Airport Infrastructure and Future Plans
49:37 Concluding Thoughts and Advice
Creators and Guests
Host
Host
Melody Tate
Melody considers it a privilege and honor to help sellers and buyers achieve their real estate goals. As a Fuquay Varina and previously a Holly Springs resident, she knows southern Wake County and surrounding areas, inside and out. She began her real estate career in Raleigh and also knows all areas of Raleigh, Chapel Hill, Wake Forest, and the adjacent areas, very well. Melody was awarded the Top Producer award for the team in 2021 (a team ranked in the Top 10 via Triangle Business Journal) and was one of the top performers in the entire Team Anderson Realty Firm.
What is T.A.R. Life with Top Producing Agent Erica Anderson?
WHAT IS T.A.R. LIFE WITH TOP PRODUCING REAL ESTATE MEGA AGENT ERICA ANDERSON?
T.A.R. stands for top real estate firm Team Anderson Realty, located in the Raleigh area of North Carolina. They put the REAL in Real Estate throughout all that they do. Erica Anderson is the Founder of Team Anderson Realty, a third-generation REALTOR® and a $130+ million dollar a year volume producer in her craft.
She created this podcast to show some behind-the-scenes at Team Anderson Realty and talk about all things real estate, with tips and tricks for home buyers, sellers, and so much more. Erica Anderson, her Firm agents, and staff are ordinary people with a passion for real estate and masters of their craft every day.
They understand that there are many facets to life, so while they talk about real estate, trends, and thoughts, they also have this podcast jam-packed with adventures and fun, showcasing their dynamic personalities. Some of these adventures might lead to your own, or perhaps you’ll prefer to live vicariously through theirs. Nonetheless, they appreciate you taking the time to listen and hope you enjoy it as much as they had created it!
14 TAR Life - Airport
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[00:00:06] Default_2025-12-04_1: Welcome back. It has been a long time. I'm Erica. And I'm Melody. She's now a brunette and I know that it's a different look, but she's as beautiful brunette as she is blonde. Thank you. So good to be back. We have John Wre. He works for RDU and what do you do exactly?
[00:00:24] John: I am the Airport Authority Noise Officer, so it's, it's my job to deal with. Thousands of noise complaints we get a year. But the other part of my job that I really enjoy is working with the realtors and their clients to really educate our community on what the airplane noise is, where it is, why it is, and all things involved with airport noise.
[00:00:45] Melody: Wow. How long have you been doing that?
[00:00:48] John: I've been in this position for six years, but I've been in aviation my entire life. I grew up in Raleigh. And honestly, I basically grew up at the airport. Does that mean, are you a pilot?
[00:00:56] Melody: Yeah. Can you fly plane? You are?
[00:00:58] John: Yep. Started flying when I was 14 actually. Wow.
And yeah, I kind of went to college for that. So
[00:01:04] Default_2025-12-04_1: Did you fly commercial?
[00:01:06] John: I, I have my commercial license, but I'm not currently a commercial pilot, so,
[00:01:09] Default_2025-12-04_1: so if we wanted to fly private and found a plane, you could fly it work,
[00:01:12] John: yeah, yeah. A little plane. Yeah. Depending on how many, how many engines and how fast it's, yeah.
[00:01:17] Melody: Oh, I love that. That's great. That's really cool. So you're really passionate about what you do.
[00:01:21] John: Yeah, I've been doing it my whole life in all different facets of the industry from. Operations guy to airport manager to, to now this position at RU. So I think it gives me a good background of all the parties involved.
'cause it is a lot of stakeholders when it comes to Noyce, so. Mm-hmm. I think I'm, I'm, my, my experience is, is is pretty well-rounded in this industry.
[00:01:41] Default_2025-12-04_1: Do you, do you live. Within the flight path.
[00:01:44] John: So I live, where I live in Kerry is actually in between the two flight paths. He's
[00:01:48] Melody: like, I know where to be. So, yeah.
[00:01:50] John: Yeah. I, I do get, I, I do get regular noise in my house, but it's actually one of the things I talk to people about before we moved in, the previous owners put in really good windows, so I never hear noise inside of my house. That's
[00:02:02] Default_2025-12-04_1: good point. That's a good point. Now, when you're outside, if you're grilling, do you hear it?
[00:02:05] John: We do. Yeah, we will see the is you like background noise though? For me, it doesn't bother me. 'cause again, my whole life has been growing up on airports and around airports, so I don't notice it. But I definitely understand there are special C circumstances where people are ultra sensitive. So those are the people I really try to work with.
Mm-hmm. Your clients to kind of educate them, Hey, this is what to expect and this is why it's here, this is how often it's gonna be here, and that kind of thing.
[00:02:28] Default_2025-12-04_1: So you were saying earlier, before we were on camera that the flight paths have been They are. They've been there since the fifties or so. Yeah.
And they're gonna remain the same.
[00:02:39] John: Yeah. So the flight paths in the United States, the flight paths are really just based on the aircraft's operational characteristics. So they fly in straight lines to and from runways. They turn at safe altitudes. So we really have this. This scenario in the United States where it's a firewall between everything else and flight paths, no one can change the flight paths.
And you know, there's a good reason behind that for safety and security. So I. No matter who moves under the flight pass, no matter how many times you complain, they're just not gonna change. 'cause they're based on the aircraft's characteristics
[00:03:16] Melody: and it's based on also the wind. Right? On you guys. How,
[00:03:20] John: yeah.
So the, the, the, the way the airplanes take off and land is always into the wind. So when we think about RDU, we have runways that point to the northeast and to the southwest. And what determines whether you take off and land in, in one of those directions is the wind. So I, I explain to people, even if you take a flight from Orlando, Florida.
If the winds are generally from the south at RDU, you will fly past the airport. Mm-hmm. Do a U-turn to land into the wind.
[00:03:47] Default_2025-12-04_1: Yeah. Those called like the tail. Winds and then the headwinds. Mm-hmm. You
[00:03:50] John: always land and take off with a headwind. It's a requirement. So even if no idea, which I've explained before, even if you, even if the winds shift a hundred times in a day, those air traffic controllers will shift that runway flow direction a hundred times a day.
If it takes four weeks for the winds to shift, they will stay in the same direction for four weeks. So that's vital for our community to understand. Mm-hmm. Because if you live underneath. You know, a, an area that only gets over flights from takeoffs and we're stuck in a takeoff flow for an extended period of time, you're gonna be like, oh, they must have changed something.
They must have changed the flight pass. Now I'm getting all the over flights when in fact it's not, it's just the wind. Just the wind.
[00:04:31] Melody: Yeah. But that's
[00:04:31] John: so important for clients to understand. I get a lot of calls from people that are like, oh, I did my homework. I, I visited the house four times and I never saw a single flight.
[00:04:38] Melody: Oh, yeah. Yeah. But that also also changes, right. Based on the flood direction. Right. Right. And then how many more people are now traveling. Right. So that can dictate it as well. Right. Yeah. So
[00:04:45] John: the airport's a reflection of its community. Every airport in the world is, and, and RDU is not an exception. So. As our community grows, as we move in tons of great people, the airport is going to grow correspondingly.
How
[00:04:56] Default_2025-12-04_1: many flights a day do you typically see?
[00:04:59] John: Um, for commercial flights, we have between 250 and 350 a day.
[00:05:04] Default_2025-12-04_1: And that's from 5 36 until,
[00:05:08] John: yeah. So it depends on the day, but our, our earliest flights, our earliest, earliest commercial flights really start, I, I think there's a. I think there's an LA one that comes in at around four o'clock in the morning.
But yeah, we, you know, the busy times at RDU U are, are 6:00 AM to 9:00 AM and then again at night from 6:00 PM to 10:00 PM
[00:05:26] Erica: mm-hmm.
[00:05:27] John: Now, what I, what I always caution people with is, is as a public airport, as all airports in the United States, we are not legally allowed to close.
[00:05:35] Melody: Right? So
[00:05:35] John: the airport is open 24 hours a day,
[00:05:37] Melody: which is wild.
So when we talk about
[00:05:39] John: the population growth and we talk about those peak flight times. I caution people that as the airport gets busier and busier and busier and we have to fit those airplanes into the limited number of gates, we could see changes in those peak flight times. We could start to see late night flights and earlier morning flights.
But again, it's, it's a, it's a response to the market. It's not just, it's the airport deciding. The airport actually legally can't decide when airplanes fly. As, as an airport authority, we can't tell them what to do. So,
[00:06:07] Melody: okay. That's so
[00:06:08] Default_2025-12-04_1: interesting. So I was just at a showing. Well, was it, it was a few months ago and we were, we knew it was in the flight path and the clients, they already lived within the flight path.
Okay. But we were outside and I felt like you could touch the plane and you saw this huge Delta advertisement underneath it. And so my question is, in the flight path. What's the lowest that you see them going over some of the properties within the Raleigh Durham area?
[00:06:38] John: So that would be a really, obviously, location specific.
Mm-hmm. But we talk about, you know, obviously the airplanes, when they land and take off, they're at zero feet altitude, so it obviously goes up from there. So the closer you are to the airport, the the lower they're gonna be. But when we look at neighborhoods that are the closest neighborhoods we have in Morrisville.
And you know, that, that Leesville road area, kind of like right off the end of the runway, which is, you know, some of these houses, I'll, I'll, I'll look on my map and you know, as the crow flies, they're, you know, 7,000 feet from the end of a 10,000 foot runway.
[00:07:11] Erica: Mm-hmm.
[00:07:12] John: So in that circumstance, I mean, the airplanes, I've seen them over that area.
You know, they could be as low as a thousand feet easily. Mm. Mm-hmm. So when you figure we have, you know, 300 foot tall pine trees or 200 feet. Up pine trees, you know, that's not too high above that. So,
[00:07:27] Melody: I mean, it's one of those things that when people live in RDU, they're kind of expecting that. And the closer you get, like you expect to hear airplane noise, you know, 'cause that you wanna live close to the airport.
So, and,
[00:07:36] John: and that's where that, those noise disclosure statements that I'm sure you guys are familiar with, so mm-hmm. We have these, you know, existing contours. We call 'em the land use planning contours. But there are these noise contours around the airport. Anytime a transfer of a parcel occurs within that, those contours, it's supposed to be, or you have to sign a noise disclosure.
And that's actually a North Carolina State statute. So we do everything we can to try to advise the community where the airplane noise is gonna be. But in addition to that, that's where my efforts, and that's where like this whole thing, this podcast and, and me talking to realtors really comes from, because while it's great to do your homework and look at those contours and visit the property.
It really is not to toot my own horn, but it really is valuable to talk to me and say, Hey, I'm looking at this house. What does the noise look like? And I'll actually put together like a whole little noise report and answer all your questions. And my little line that I tell people is, I'd, I'd rather you call me a thousand times before you buy a house than one time after.
[00:08:35] Melody: Oh, that's a good point. So I'd rather
[00:08:37] John: you. Just get, bother me everything you can before you make that huge decision.
[00:08:42] Default_2025-12-04_1: It reminds me of the five 40, the, I was gonna say that. Yeah, it's the Bruce, there used to be a Bruce that used to help us at five 40. Mm-hmm. And he would map it out. Okay. And he would, what we didn't think about or initially was the, the on and off ramps too.
Mm-hmm. So you would, you would say, oh, we're so far away from the road. But then we'd see this little on and off ramp in the map and be like, oh, by the noise would increase. So they change and the noise. Yeah.
[00:09:06] Erica: Mm-hmm.
[00:09:07] John: The roads are similar to the air traffic, and obviously it's the same thing. As the roads get busier, the noise gets bigger.
The same thing with the airplanes. As the airport gets busier, those existing flight paths and the existing noise will tend to get bigger. Now, the other thing I must say about that is 'cause I know it's kind of scary to say, oh, well the airport's only gonna get busier, so the noise is only gonna get worse.
What's canceling that out is the airplanes are getting exponentially quieter.
[00:09:32] Melody: Oh yeah. Yeah. And this
[00:09:33] John: is a mandate from the FAA. It's, and I don't wanna get too far into the science, but
[00:09:36] Melody: love it.
[00:09:37] John: The manufacturer, so your Boeing, your Embraer, your Airbus, they are mandated to, to make newer airplanes much quieter.
So what we've seen is, even though the airport has gotten busier over the last 30 years, the actual noise as measured by the federal government is actually becoming less. So that's what I always tell people, you know, when I, when I get to tell somebody, oh yeah, you're right underneath the landing and the approach, and you know, you can look forward to about 350 over flights a day.
I always, at the end of that, that message is always, keep in mind, the airplanes are becoming exponentially quieter.
[00:10:12] Default_2025-12-04_1: Now regarding Boeing. Mm-hmm. Just curious, oh gosh. Because you're a pilot, wasn't there an issue with, how was it? The 7 47 or It's like the Airbus, it was a
[00:10:23] John: 7 37 max. 7
[00:10:24] Default_2025-12-04_1: 37 max. Here he goes.
Yeah. You know, if they have resolved that. Yeah, yeah.
[00:10:28] John: My understanding is they did. Yeah. It was a flight control problem and I don't, you know, I don't wanna get too far into it. I know Boeing, but, but yeah, my understanding was it was a flight controls problem and, and the pilots that had received training on how to resolve the problem.
When it arose. When it arose, they, they fixed it and now everybody has the training. So, but yeah, there was like two or three crashes worldwide of that airplane. Yeah.
[00:10:51] Default_2025-12-04_1: I was wondering,
[00:10:53] Melody: um, as far as growth goes, like what are we, what are you looking at RDU like over the next five years? Like how are you, what are you seeing?
So
[00:11:00] John: the next five years, we actually have a, an official branding at the airport called Transform RDU. Now it's a, it's a whole branding campaign. The next five years are exciting. Um, we have a new runway, and when I say new runway, it's actually replacing an existing runway. So right now we have two jet runways at rdu mm-hmm.
That are parallel. The Western runway, the one that, that mainly serves terminal two. So all your, your bigger international flights. It's at the end of its useful life. The, the actual concrete is at the end of its life and we've been piecemealing it together for five years.
[00:11:34] Default_2025-12-04_1: Is it asphalt on concrete or is it just no concrete?
Just concrete. It's concrete. And so you can't really fix that. Once it cracks, we gotta replace that. Exactly.
[00:11:41] John: You can't really repair concrete. So we're actually, we've been trying to keep that runway, or we have been keeping it. Usable for years, but we're replacing it right now. We're actually, you know, building the groundwork for that and that's probably gonna be done around 2030.
[00:11:55] Default_2025-12-04_1: How much does that cost?
[00:11:57] John: Um, I think the runway is around 2 billion. Um, but this transform RDU U includes about. I think last time I saw a little bit over 6 billion in, in total new infrastructure. And that includes
[00:12:09] Default_2025-12-04_1: the $2 billion mm-hmm. Runway.
[00:12:11] John: Yep. The new runway. Um, and
[00:12:13] Default_2025-12-04_1: that's gonna, that's gonna combine the two, or it's just that one?
So yeah.
[00:12:17] John: So it'll be built 537 feet next to the existing runway, which is great news for me because just think about it, those runways are, are like, are like water hoses that Yeah. Spout the noise. So if, if we build, if we build a runway, kind of pointed a different direction, or if we build a runway further away, that's gonna expose like a whole new part of our community to noise.
But that's not what we're doing. And
[00:12:39] Default_2025-12-04_1: does that doesn't change the flight path technically by 500, it'll
[00:12:42] John: 537 feet.
[00:12:43] Default_2025-12-04_1: Well then,
[00:12:44] John: which
[00:12:45] Default_2025-12-04_1: what you just said. Yeah,
[00:12:46] John: but, but it's not
[00:12:48] Default_2025-12-04_1: changing is wrong. We talk about
[00:12:49] John: 537 feet. It. As far as the noise goes, it will impact, and we actually are going to have to offer to insulate about 37 homes that are
[00:13:00] Default_2025-12-04_1: Oh, how that are technically
[00:13:01] John: significantly impacted.
Like an
[00:13:02] Default_2025-12-04_1: attic. Like
[00:13:03] John: Yeah, they'll, they'll be blown in. We'll have a acoustic engineer go in. Visit the homes, analyze the homes, and then figure out how they would insulate the homes, because that's
[00:13:13] Melody: how much 537 feet can really impact
[00:13:15] Default_2025-12-04_1: things. And that's a good point. If somebody loves the location mm-hmm.
How can they mitigate some of the noise?
[00:13:22] John: Great question that I get all the time. I get your, your clients calling me up and they're like, oh my God, we found this perfect house off Creedmore Leesville. But it, well, we visited thousand and windows. We visited it and it's so loud. And I'm like, well, did you hear the planes inside?
And they're like, oh, well, not really just outside. And, but yeah, you can insulate a home. And that's, and I always give them my personal story about my house windows. I don't hear anything inside. And it really does boil down to windows. Weather stripping doors and some improvements that can be made to the HVAC system are, are the four main ways, but
[00:13:52] Default_2025-12-04_1: in insulation.
[00:13:53] John: Insulation for sure. And blown in. Yeah.
[00:13:55] Default_2025-12-04_1: Now, I think typically it's what R 19? Is, is what they've been using in the attic, do they go higher up?
[00:14:03] John: I think so, yeah. That and that's, but only if they determine that's one of the ways to cut the noise. They might just say, and they could
[00:14:09] Default_2025-12-04_1: hire an acoustic or, oh, for sure.
Do you have somebody you can recommend if they call in?
[00:14:12] John: I don't on purpose because I don't wanna show, we, we can't show favoritism for that. But there's a few firms around here that do it.
[00:14:20] Erica: Mm-hmm.
[00:14:21] John: But I'm telling you, the windows are, are one of the biggest differences. Just anything above a single pane is gonna cut down the noise tremendously.
Um, the other thing I do have to mention, because I mention it to your clients all the time, is landscaping.
[00:14:33] Melody: Oh yeah. Trees. Oh, believe it or
[00:14:34] John: not, trees and leaves cut the noise tremendously. Yeah. And that is why this time of year, so you evergreens
[00:14:40] Default_2025-12-04_1: Yeah. What's the yes deal. This time
[00:14:42] John: of year I get an increase in noise complaints because the leaves are gone.
Yeah.
[00:14:47] Melody: Yeah. So it's good deal. How many co deal, many complaints do you feel like you get a day about the noise?
[00:14:50] John: So last year I got about, I about 5,000 complaints. This year I'm on track for 6,000. So those are complaints. Those are people saying, Hey, I don't like this noise. Let's, let's discuss it. But I also get so far this year, I looked at it before I got here.
I've got 473, what I classify as inquiries. So these are your clients calling me. Mm Ah, so 473, that's more than one per day.
[00:15:13] Default_2025-12-04_1: Yeah.
[00:15:13] John: So you gotta think about that. I'm talking one. Do you ever them off a
[00:15:15] Default_2025-12-04_1: ledge?
[00:15:17] John: Um. Probably, I mean, a few of them call very upset and they are, you know, sound like they're almost in tears that we love this property so much, but we heard this loud airplane and you know, there are times that, like this weekend, or not this weekend, the past weekend we had a we were supposed to have a fighter jet overly of the NC State game.
[00:15:36] Default_2025-12-04_1: Yeah. Oh yeah.
[00:15:37] John: And they canceled it, it, it didn't happen 'cause the weather, but they still came to RDU and they still practiced the route. So I had a ton of people call me upset about, what was that? Unbelievably loud noise. I That's fine. And it's just a one-off. Oh, that's cool though. Yeah, it was just a one-off.
So for the kids to see. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But it was just a one-off. And we had, you know, last couple years we had the Duke Notre Dame game had a huge flyover and I think I got like 250 noise complaints from that one little operation.
[00:16:01] Erica: Mm-hmm.
[00:16:01] John: But yeah, that's the kind of thing I can discuss with him, and that's why it's so important to call me, because if you hear something while you're visiting a property.
Have, you don't, there are tools, but you don't have the knowledge to be like, oh, I know what that was. It was a one-off. So that's why I always, yeah. Would always push for, for my realtor friends to say, call me.
[00:16:20] Default_2025-12-04_1: What about the military? Mm-hmm. I know that's not rdu, but like the. The helicopters Yes. That are coming from Fort Bragg.
Do you deal with any of those inquiries or do you all of refer them? All of 'em. Okay, so they have to come to
[00:16:32] Melody: you as well.
[00:16:33] John: Yeah, so we actually have a squadron of attack helicopters. It's technically not RDU property, but it's on the airport. It's state property, but it's, anyway, we, we have a squadron of Apache helicopters and those are the.
The little, not little, but the, the green helicopters. Mm-hmm. You'll see flying over Carrie and Apex. They usually fly in groups of three. Um, they're at the airport, so I get calls about them all the time. Um, but definitely being in North Carolina, you're gonna have military traffic. So we have Fort Bragg Bragg, we have Goldsboro, which is Seymour Johnson Air Force Base that has F fifteens.
Um, I got some good stories about that. We, we have a. Had, I guess, I don't know if he's still there, but we have an F 15 pilot at Seymour Johnson whose fiance was a student at Duke. And just coincidentally we would get some low fighter jet overly of Duke University.
[00:17:23] Default_2025-12-04_1: So I had to deal with that a few times.
That's not a good use of taxpayer dollars. I don't wanna
[00:17:27] John: get the guy in trouble, but, but yeah, so we, we definitely have the military here. Um, the, the challenge with that is. Obviously as a civilian, as a civilian airport or any of us, we can't track military flights. Right, right,
[00:17:42] Erica: right.
[00:17:42] John: So I can't call up Seymour Johnson and be like, Hey, what was that?
Was that normal? Like they don't answer questions. No, they're not. To answer those questions. Yeah. They don't want people tracking their flights, so, mm-hmm. That is a challenge and that's something, of course, I always tell. Our, our, your clients, my customers, I call them is that, Hey, yeah. Being in North Carolina, you're gonna have some military flights.
[00:17:59] Erica: Right.
[00:17:59] John: However, we don't have anything based at RDU, like some civilian airports like Burlington, Vermont has a squadron of F 22 fighter jets mm-hmm. That just moved there. We don't have that and we likely will never have that in the future. So
[00:18:12] Default_2025-12-04_1: that uncomfortable with it. It, because all the military bases kind of support that.
Right, exactly. Yeah. We
[00:18:15] John: don't need to put. A squadron of fighter jets at RDU because we're surrounded by military air bases.
[00:18:20] Melody: Mm-hmm. So go back to the renovation that's happening, so Oh, yeah. Yeah. So yeah,
[00:18:24] John: that's, that's, that's what we're so excited about on the transform RDU, it includes the new runway. Um, it includes a, a renovation of the roads.
It's called John Brantley Boulevard. So it's the road that goes past terminal one and terminal two. So where you pick up and drop off people, that is going to be redone. Okay. To allow for more capacity. Um, I'm sure. Yeah.
[00:18:48] Default_2025-12-04_1: Thanksgiving we, yeah, I
[00:18:49] John: was gonna say if you guys used the airport enough and
[00:18:51] Default_2025-12-04_1: dropped off.
Yeah. My sister-in-law
[00:18:53] Melody: and it was. Crazy. Yeah. It was traffic. That's, yeah. Yeah. So we're
[00:18:56] John: working on that. Um, well,
[00:18:57] Melody: there'll be something like a, 'cause a lot of airports have like, I mean I love RDU 'cause it's like the easiest airport to get in and out of. Um, even when we travel international, I'm like, I'll get there an hour early, I'll be fine.
Just like two hours. I'm like, it's RDUI can get there an hour early. Sure. I take advantage of that, but I just, so is it, um, is there gonna be a way to get from terminal one to terminal two? You know, with maybe like a transit system or something like that.
[00:19:21] John: So I know that's something they're looking at. And again, all this is really in the, in the planning stages with mm-hmm.
With our planning department and, and consultants. Um, but yeah, they wanna make that easier. Um, or you're actually gonna see it now if you go to terminal two now there's already a wall up because we are expanding our. Federal inspection station, which everybody knows is customs. Yeah. So we're expanding that.
As far as that connection, um, there is the underground tunnel, um, and I know they're looking at ways to kind of connect the two better. Did they know
[00:19:50] Default_2025-12-04_1: there was an underground tunnel? That's not something that we use. Right? Yeah.
[00:19:54] John: Yeah. It's for the public. Yeah. Now that, not really an underground tunnel, but there's,
[00:19:57] Default_2025-12-04_1: it's a, it goes, yeah.
It goes down one, yeah. The next, the two. Oh oh, I got it. Yeah, because I used terminal one for the first time. Are they making terminal one or two? Larger. That's
[00:20:06] John: the other huge part of the transform RDU U. So part of moving that runway a little bit further west will allow us to expand terminal two and add more gates, more gate.
Oh, that's
[00:20:17] Default_2025-12-04_1: great.
[00:20:17] John: So we talk about RDU U. I'm sure people are like, oh, we need to, as the airport, as the community grows, the airport's gonna have to grow. So you guys are gonna have to build new runways and new taxiways. Actually the capacity of the airfield is fine. We don't need new runways besides replacing
[00:20:31] Melody: the one that's
[00:20:32] John: replacing the old one.
But when we replace it, it's, it's actually gonna turn into a taxiway. So we still will only have two runways.
[00:20:37] Default_2025-12-04_1: So are they still gonna use the old runway for, it's gonna turn into a
[00:20:40] John: taxiway.
[00:20:41] Default_2025-12-04_1: Okay, so they will, yeah. Yeah. It turns into a
[00:20:43] John: taxiway. But when we move that that runway a little bit further, it would allow us to expand terminal two in that same direction and add more gates.
So I think we're gonna go from. I think like, I think let's say with now we have 50 total gates. I think we're gonna go to like closer to 80. Yeah, that would be, so this will, this'll be different bringing in
[00:21:02] Melody: more airlines, things like that. A hundred percent. Yeah.
[00:21:05] John: As the community grows more international,
[00:21:06] Melody: nonstop flights.
Oh,
[00:21:07] John: yay. I'm so proud of how we've done with international. Absolutely. He can
[00:21:11] Default_2025-12-04_1: away those, some of the direct flights. Right? So
[00:21:14] John: yeah. So some of the seasonal ones, so the, the recent one that you guys are probably talking about is Bermuda Air went away.
[00:21:19] Default_2025-12-04_1: No.
[00:21:19] John: Um, but that was, it was in Europe. Really.
[00:21:21] Default_2025-12-04_1: Maybe Iceland or France.
[00:21:23] John: Iceland's still going strong. France still going strong. Yeah, France is still going. Frankfurt has, has started and it's mm-hmm. It's going strong with, with Lufthansa. Um, but yeah, we've, I, I'm impressed like. It's not really part of my, my position, but I'm, I'm, I love our, with how we've done with international.
Mm-hmm. And that's the big push to, again, expand that federal inspection station to allow more people to clear customs. Yeah. So that's another one of the limiting capacity things. Mm-hmm. But but yeah, the growth is only gonna continue. And I'll, I'll steal a question that you guys, that everybody asked me is, is the new runway gonna be bigger to allow bigger airplanes?
[00:21:59] Melody: Oh, good point.
[00:22:00] John: So,
[00:22:01] Melody: honestly, I felt like the, the quick answer is one.
[00:22:04] John: The current runway is 10,000 feet long. The new runway is gonna be 10,000, six hundred's. Not much
[00:22:10] Default_2025-12-04_1: of a difference.
[00:22:10] John: So it's not that much bigger.
[00:22:11] Default_2025-12-04_1: Don't we have like extremely large aircraft that lands and take off? We already, we do. Yeah.
The
[00:22:16] John: Lufthansa flight, the Air France flight, I mean, these are some of the bigger airplanes in the world. What are the
[00:22:20] Default_2025-12-04_1: largest ones that land, what's their model?
[00:22:23] John: The A three 40. So the Airbus three 40, which comes in, Lufthansa uses that periodically, but that's, that's the biggest airplane now that uses RDU.
[00:22:31] Melody: Wow.
[00:22:31] John: So no, seven 40 sevens, no. A three eighties. That's that double decker. The Airbus three.
[00:22:36] Melody: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:22:37] John: We don't have any of those yet. And our gates actually couldn't accommodate those, but but yeah, that's the kind of thing that you would need a bigger runway for.
[00:22:44] Default_2025-12-04_1: Mm-hmm. How, how large would a runway need to be for
[00:22:49] John: aircraft size?
It depends, but as a general rule to fit in. What are the biggest airplanes in the world? You would need a little bit over 11,000, maybe 11,500 feet.
[00:23:00] Default_2025-12-04_1: Mm. And there's no point because you can't make the terminals work for it anyways. Yeah,
[00:23:04] John: yeah, yeah. There's no point. And, and, and the way that the, our National Airspace system really works is, you know, everything is regulated by the FAA.
So if you wanna do anything, it's ask the FAA and they give you permission. The way the FAA operates with commercial air traffic is, is not like field of dreams. It's not Oh yeah. Build it and they will come. It's prove us, prove to us that you have a giant demand for X.
[00:23:28] Default_2025-12-04_1: Mm-hmm. And
[00:23:29] John: if you can't show that giant demand right now, then you don't get X.
How
[00:23:32] Default_2025-12-04_1: would one show that giant demand?
[00:23:35] John: It would be through letters from airlines, like petitions, petitions, local businesses. Mm-hmm. Um, there's a lot of different ways, but, but it really boils down to the airlines themselves saying, Hey, we want bring in this giant airplane to rdu. You guys need a bigger runway.
Yeah. Which we just simply don't have at this time. Yeah. Mm-hmm. That being said, this new runway we are building. There is
[00:23:58] Default_2025-12-04_1: room for room for expansion. Yeah.
[00:24:00] John: So it's not like, well you're building this one and that's it. How much
[00:24:02] Default_2025-12-04_1: would it have cost to just make it the size, even if you're not accepting aircraft that large?
I couldn't
[00:24:08] John: even, I couldn't even begin to ask to like, tell me probably an additional, you know, 300, $400 million. 'cause we're having to move Lumley Road to put in this new runway. Yeah. Like we're having to literally rebuild a road. Would
[00:24:20] Default_2025-12-04_1: that make sense though, just to. Do it now while you're already moving things a hundred percent.
And then not accept the aircraft yet. Yeah, hundred percent. And then if there is, I mean, I feel like at some point that will be done. It will be. It's gonna cost them. What, 10, 20 plus percent more. Yeah. But that could be 10 years down the road when you have to
[00:24:37] Melody: have to redo the other runway though.
[00:24:39] Default_2025-12-04_1: Right.
Could I know? But like, it's so much tv. It is, but again,
[00:24:42] John: it's, it's, it's not, you know, if, if it was up to the airport, you know, I, I'm pretty sure we would, we would do all these things. Mm-hmm. But again, it's, it's regulated by the National Airspace system.
[00:24:49] Default_2025-12-04_1: Who owns the airport? It's just great
[00:24:51] John: question. Who owns the airport, not me.
So the airport is owned and operated by the air, by the Raleigh Durham Airport Authority, right?
[00:25:01] Melody: Mm-hmm.
[00:25:01] John: Which is a board of eight members made up from two representatives from Durham City, Durham County, wake County, and Raleigh.
[00:25:09] Melody: Okay?
[00:25:09] John: So each one of those, each one of those municipalities puts forward two members to be on that board.
So when we ask who owns the airport, my, my quick answer and, and, and the truth is, the community owns the airport.
[00:25:22] Erica: Okay. That's
[00:25:23] John: why I always tell people I am a public servant. Right. I work for you. Mm-hmm. Like, my job is to serve you. When you guys have the client, you're like, oh, I don't wanna, I don't wanna bother that, that John Guy at the airport, he's like, this is my job.
That is my job. My job is to serve the community. Yeah. And that really is the attitude of, of all, you know, 400 plus employees of, of the authority is, you know, we are here for you. We are, our job is to maintain the airport. In a safe and efficient manner for the community to use and to be happy with
[00:25:51] Melody: because they're, it's owned by the community.
Would it would, yeah. So
[00:25:53] John: you own the airport. That's who owns the airport too. Okay. You do take it back,
[00:25:57] Melody: say flying private tomorrow. Tell, so what does your everyday look like?
[00:26:03] John: So my every day, what I love about my job is my every day is different, right? So every single day I'm getting to talk to a few dozen or more of our community members.
Okay? So I, I I come in and, and there's, you know, there's a, a multitude of media ways that, that noise. Complaints can come in. They can, they can call me. My direct line is (919) 840-7748. They can call the Noise Hotline at (919) 840-2100.
[00:26:30] Default_2025-12-04_1: What's your cell phone number? Okay. That's the one that
[00:26:33] John: only a few people.
[00:26:34] Default_2025-12-04_1: Um,
[00:26:35] John: but I, I answer immediately on, on either one of those and, and
[00:26:38] Default_2025-12-04_1: what about nights and weekends?
[00:26:40] John: So I like that you asked that. So as I know, I
[00:26:43] Default_2025-12-04_1: bet you do. I guess, as you
[00:26:44] John: guys might know or as certainly other realtors do. Um, when I moved back here, I said I was from here, but when I moved back here in 2019 and we were buying a house in 2020.
I'm sure you guys remember the how crazy the market was. Oh
[00:26:58] Default_2025-12-04_1: gosh, yes. Oh yeah.
[00:26:59] John: So like, people were like, we
[00:27:01] Default_2025-12-04_1: don't care if there's jets landing on top of us. Yeah. So we, we made
[00:27:04] John: an offer on my house without me even looking at it. My wife saw it online
[00:27:07] Default_2025-12-04_1: sight unseen, and I was at work
[00:27:09] John: and she was like, I'm making an offer.
And I was like, is this
[00:27:11] Default_2025-12-04_1: the one with good insulated windows? Yeah. So we have the one we have now.
[00:27:13] John: Yeah. I was like, can I just drive past it at lunch and look at it? She's like, Nope, we gotta make an offer now. So anyway, what I'm getting at is the market was insane. Mm-hmm. So my experience was, mm-hmm. These decisions have to make it super quick.
So I'm in a roundabout way, I'm trying to answer the question for, for new home buyers, for your clients, I will gladly work on weekends and at nights to answer questions because I know they're up against it.
[00:27:35] Erica: Yeah, it's true.
[00:27:36] John: I know they need to make offers. I know they want these answers now. So I, I look at my emails all weekend long and at night.
Um, my rule is to answer all inquiries within 48 hours. So even if it's a noise complaint, I will, um. But certainly for the inquiries, for the people asking questions, Hey, I'm looking at this house, what can you tell me? I get back to them same day, almost always. What's a
[00:27:59] Default_2025-12-04_1: good email subject to kind of show you that it's urgent?
Is there, would it be helpful if somebody said
[00:28:05] John: no? I, I'm gonna look at 'em all making
[00:28:07] Default_2025-12-04_1: offer, have a question. I'm gonna look
[00:28:08] John: at 'em all. Like you said, my daily routine gonna, I'm, I'm gonna check, you know, my voicemails, my emails, um, people can put in inquiries through our online system, which is a third party called Casper.
Um, not to get too far into it, but that's kind of my flight tracking system that I use that has all the flight data and all the radar stuff on it. Um, but you can actually submit mm-hmm. Complaints and inquiries through that. So I come in every day and I don't like to leave for the night until I've answered everybody from that day.
That's nice. Does that always happen? No. And do I go on international trips and cruises where maybe I don't get back? Yes. Yes. But usually only once a year, I, I do something like that, so I try to get back to people immediately. Um. Like I said, I'm a community member. I love this community more than anything.
That's why I call these people, you know, even, even the maddest people in the world.
[00:28:56] Erica: No call
[00:28:56] John: usually by the end of the conversation. They're no longer mad. Yeah. And that's my job. Yeah. Mm-hmm. That's my job is to deescalate. That's gotta
[00:29:02] Melody: be really rewarding though. Yeah. You, it is. You know, and that's what I
[00:29:05] John: always try to tell people.
People are like, oh my, like people on my hallway at work. Oh, you deal with these complainers yelling at you all day? I'm like, no, not really. I, I get to deal with our community members that
[00:29:13] Default_2025-12-04_1: it's information. Right. Yeah. A lot of people just information need to know what the facts are and that it's. It's a wonderful place to live.
Yes. And a lot of times the best locations are gonna have noise, whether it's a highway like we were talking about five 40 being carried with a train, 44 40, the trains. Yeah. Yeah. And I don't, I don't need to tell you kind of explain that, right?
[00:29:35] John: Yeah. And I don't need to tell you guys our community, I think it's the most educated in the whole country and one of the more educated in the entire world.
And what I found in the six years doing this job here at In, in North Carolina is. People may be mad, they may call me pissed off. They may call me names. They may use curse words. At the end of the day, we live in an unbelievably educated community that when you actually present to them why this is happening, what that noise is, what it means, they're happy.
Yeah. Right. They're like, oh, okay, now I get it. So I, I have this little, my little motto is, educate, communicate, investigate.
What are,
[00:30:57] Default_2025-12-04_1: what are some cities. Or towns that aren't often on people's radar, that you get inquiries about, you know, Raleigh in Durham and
[00:31:06] John: Great question.
So what I always explain to people is. Airplanes obviously move fast. So when we talk about the landing and the takeoff flight paths, airplanes land or airplanes line up to land at RDU anywhere from five all the way to 25 miles out.
[00:31:25] Erica: Mm. Ah,
[00:31:26] John: so a normal report says like, oh, 25 miles. So yeah, it takes me 25 minutes from, from where I live in Cary, it's different.
I'm not talking about how long it takes to get to the airport. Yeah. I'm talking about as the crow flies. Crow flies.
[00:31:34] Erica: Yeah. So
[00:31:35] John: as the crow flies, 25 miles out is Wake Forest and Holly Springs.
[00:31:39] Erica: Oh, for sure.
[00:31:40] John: So that is, that is kind of an area where there is air traffic. It is outside of those noise contours.
So you don't have to sign any disclosure, but you're going to get over flights probably more than you expected because you feel like you live really far away.
[00:31:55] Melody: Yeah. Yeah. So that is an important
[00:31:57] John: point. A
[00:31:57] Melody: lot of people don't understand that it is by the crew. I mean, yes. But Raleigh is a, it's a growing area, right?
Mm-hmm. So we anticipate that the more that we grow, 'cause it's been in the top. Five places to live in all of the United States. Right. So Yeah.
[00:32:10] John: Since I was a kid. Yeah.
[00:32:10] Melody: Right. So at the end of the day, how many people do we have moving into Wake? I know you know this answer.
[00:32:15] John: Yeah. So for, for a while I was, I, I found some number that said it was 40.
Our, our net population growth. In central North Carolina, it was 42 people a day.
[00:32:25] Melody: That's right. Yeah. But recently
[00:32:26] John: somebody told me it was 60 now. Mm-hmm.
[00:32:27] Melody: Wow. So you could, you think you've got 43, 43 people that move into Wayne County, right. Or central? A day. A day. So that's growth. And as we have growth, you're gonna have busier people.
I love to travel. You love to travel. Mm-hmm. You've said you like to travel, right? Yeah. So the more that. People move here, the more traveling, we're gonna get them busier. We're gonna get things like that. We get
[00:32:48] Default_2025-12-04_1: people that work in DC too.
[00:32:49] Melody: Oh, absolutely.
[00:32:50] Default_2025-12-04_1: Right. And they will fly. Mm-hmm. A couple days a week.
Yeah. From rdu.
[00:32:54] John: Yeah. Yeah. A hundred percent. Yeah. We we're gonna grow with the community. Absolutely. You know, the airport, that's where we're market-based industry, so whatever the, whatever our community kind of demands of the airport is what it's gonna turn into. Right,
[00:33:04] Melody: right. So we can't slow growth necessarily because we're scared of noise either.
'cause that's where you're like, Hey, go move out to Willow Spring. You don't hear it as much. Right out. Yes. Does
[00:33:12] Default_2025-12-04_1: UPS use that airport? Ven? Yeah, we do. We do. We
[00:33:15] John: have, yeah, those are some of my, some, some of my main noise complaints. The stop, the UPS and the FedEx flight is, is the first flight in the morning.
Usually it comes in between four 30 and 5:15 AM It wakes me up often in where I live in Cary. Yeah. Those windows, we do have, we do have you hear them
[00:33:30] Melody: through your windows
[00:33:31] John: sometimes. Yeah. So, but here's
[00:33:32] Melody: the thing that we, we as consumers, right, right. We, we are creating that one. Mm-hmm. Right. The more that we don't wanna go out and we want that simple, I wanna go online to buy something.
Mm-hmm. We are increasing those noise a hundred percent. Yeah. So we are driving some of that traffic here. Because of things that, that we went on demand really quickly. Yeah. So, yeah. So I do love UPS, I do both FedEx, I do love Amazon Prime,
[00:33:55] John: both FedEx and UPS. They actually add a flight in December. So we we're, we're, we we're at a flight in December mm-hmm.
To bring in all the, all the deliveries, not the guests but's, not Amazon. So Amazon is an interesting one. I, um, Amazon is big and they actually have. In Lakeland, Florida. They have a huge hub.
[00:34:12] Erica: Yeah, they do. Where they've
[00:34:13] John: basically taken, taken over the airport in Lakeland, Florida. But we don't have any Amazon flights that come in now.
[00:34:19] Default_2025-12-04_1: But I
[00:34:19] John: can definitely see that as being something in the future.
[00:34:22] Default_2025-12-04_1: Yeah, for sure. With that new runway.
[00:34:23] John: Yeah, with the new runway, they're adding it. Do you
[00:34:25] Default_2025-12-04_1: have areas, 'cause they're not obviously using terminals one and two. Mm-hmm. Where are they loading, unloading, docking and parking their planes. Yeah.
[00:34:33] John: So kind of on the.
Kind of on the east side of the airport, we have a, a little, a cargo facility for UPS and FedEx. Mm-hmm. So they have their own area. Do they
[00:34:42] Default_2025-12-04_1: guys charge them or do they own their little spots?
[00:34:45] John: Yes. So the
[00:34:47] Default_2025-12-04_1: leasing,
[00:34:47] John: so yes. So the leasing, yeah. So, so everything at the airport is leased from the airport. The airport's actually not allowed to sell property.
[00:34:54] Erica: Mm-hmm.
[00:34:54] John: So it's a long story. Don't, don't get me started, but, and this is all airports. All airports are not allowed to sell property. They, they lease it
[00:35:01] Melody: right. So we talked about before Yeah, about, um, you know, we were talking about Tesla driving, stuff like that. And so we were talking about that. Do you remember the conversation we had about the helicopters that
[00:35:12] John: Oh, yeah, for sure.
So yeah, it's in, it's in, you know, all my presentations I kind of end them with, with industry developments and mm-hmm. And I'm sure everybody is, is familiar with drones.
[00:35:21] Melody: Right.
[00:35:22] John: And, um, this is good. You know, five years ago I was one of the people that was like, oh, it's not, you know, well, we, we'll see. We'll see.
Are you certified
[00:35:28] Default_2025-12-04_1: to fly one?
[00:35:29] John: No. He our, our guests are though. Our guests here at this, this podcast company are, are drone pilots. Wow. But, um, which is awesome. That's not
[00:35:36] Melody: me either,
[00:35:38] John: but Yeah. So we, we, we know the little drones that we, we use to make marketing videos and things, but what we're gonna start to see, um, in the next 10 years really come about is the autonomous, passenger drones.
[00:35:52] Melody: Isn't that cool?
[00:35:53] John: So, so these are, that's so I would
[00:35:54] Default_2025-12-04_1: be so scared. Yes. These are
[00:35:56] John: gonna be drones that address be
[00:35:57] Default_2025-12-04_1: like,
[00:35:58] John: address the last mile or, or the final mile, or it's an important thing in travel going from one mode to another, but, uh mm-hmm. But yeah, the RDU, like all the other airports is, is really preparing for that kind of change to the national airspace system.
So how far they
[00:36:11] Erica: go?
[00:36:13] John: Um, I mean, they're gonna have the ones that are coming out now, a hundred, a few hundred mile range.
[00:36:20] Erica: Mm-hmm.
[00:36:20] John: But they're really gonna be to get people from kind of transportation hubs to the airport. Mm-hmm.
[00:36:27] Melody: That is so wild. Isn't that so cool now? Yes. Mm-hmm. So
[00:36:29] John: the big, the big, the big rollout of those is actually, or the, in the United States, what they're thinking is gonna be the first huge kind of introduction to that is gonna be the 2028 Olympics in Los Los Angeles.
[00:36:40] Erica: Wow. Okay.
[00:36:41] John: So the, they're already training all the air traffic controllers in Los Angeles to kind of accommodate these drones
[00:36:46] Default_2025-12-04_1: who's operating like a pilot is in the drone.
[00:36:49] John: So some of them may have pilots, but most of them will be autonomous. Yeah. Autonom. So they will be.
[00:36:54] Default_2025-12-04_1: So some of them are going to be controlled by a pilot?
Possibly.
[00:36:58] Melody: Possibly. But you're gonna sit in there and you're gonna be essentially by yourself if the
[00:37:03] Default_2025-12-04_1: signal breaks up. You ever
[00:37:04] Melody: been in a Tesla?
[00:37:06] Default_2025-12-04_1: The self-driving moment. I know, but then people burn up inside them too. Nothing that's I a Tesla. I'm like, I could just see like the doors don't unlock. Oh yeah.
[00:37:15] Melody: This is totally back to the future, but. Present.
[00:37:17] John: Yeah. Yeah. We, we see the self-driving. I got the, I have a Tesla and the, the self-driving. It's, it's unreal. It is when you do, you know, your
[00:37:22] Default_2025-12-04_1: emergency latch and how to access it?
[00:37:25] John: The emergency latch?
[00:37:26] Default_2025-12-04_1: Yes. No, the open your door if the
[00:37:28] John: Oh, a little button. The little pull thing.
[00:37:30] Default_2025-12-04_1: Yeah.
[00:37:31] John: Yeah.
[00:37:31] Default_2025-12-04_1: Yeah. That's good.
[00:37:33] Melody: Yeah, I drove, I went and test drove one. You gonna get one? Yeah. I test drove one like three weeks ago. Okay. Because I was like, I think I'm gonna get one, because like, I'm, I'm so busy. Right. But obviously it's not to detect and drive. I know you can't do that. But it was more like, just thought about doing, adding solar panels and not having to pay for that.
So charging, I, I tried the, the part where she was like, okay, now we're gonna let it drive itself. And I was like, do you trust it? Yeah. It was great. And it's actually the courteous driver. The self-drive is, yeah, it does. Well, the courteous driver to everyone. Have you
[00:38:02] Default_2025-12-04_1: seen that? People are saying if you go into cemeteries, they show people walking around.
No, I haven't seen that.
[00:38:09] John: It does see people around you. Yeah, it does.
[00:38:11] Melody: Yes, it does. It sees far.
[00:38:13] Default_2025-12-04_1: Yeah.
[00:38:13] Melody: But if you go into cemeteries and it shows little people walking. Yeah, I've seen that.
[00:38:17] John: Yeah. No, I, I haven't tested that yet. Okay. John, I
[00:38:18] Melody: need you to go into a cemetery with your Tesla, because I don't have one yet,
[00:38:22] John: but
[00:38:23] Melody: to your, to your,
[00:38:24] John: to your point that that self-driving technology, it really is.
Yeah. Getting people comfortable with. Mm-hmm. What it sounds like you have a little bit of, of heartburn about is, is the non, not having a pilot, but mm-hmm. But yeah, we're gonna, we're gonna see these drones, although
[00:38:37] Default_2025-12-04_1: most accidents happen take off and landing due to pilot error.
[00:38:42] John: Yeah. Most airplane accidents are, human error actually
[00:38:44] Default_2025-12-04_1: was on a cruise years ago with a guy that investigated plane crashes.
Oh, wow. And he told me a lot of accidents that he investigated. Mm-hmm. And like that was a big part of it. Mm-hmm. So I do see. How it could almost be safer in some ways. Then I wonder about technology and working out those little bugs. Yeah. It's gonna be something. What are the bugs in those situations?
It's gonna be something that the
[00:39:06] John: market. And do you think that they'll
[00:39:07] Default_2025-12-04_1: have like parachutes on them?
[00:39:10] John: Um,
[00:39:10] Melody: they'll have some kind of safety mechanism. I mean, they'll have to Yeah. Right. So it like, no. So
[00:39:14] John: most of these drones are. They're, they're I getting the details here. They have rotors, so the same way like a helicopter.
Oh, those are, that's
[00:39:23] Default_2025-12-04_1: even scarier. Why you say scarier? You can't just glide. Well, you can a helicopter down very easily. Well, you
[00:39:28] John: can, they, they auto rotate. So if an, if a helicopter's flying, which we have a bunch around here, bunch of hospital helicopters and, and law enforcement and news, if it's engine just cuts out in the middle of the flight, it runs at a gas.
You can auto rotate, which is. Which is the equivalent of gliding. So the air, the helicopter will slowly, not slowly. Mm-hmm. But it will descend in a controlled manner rapidly. Yeah. I'm getting way into the details here, but,
[00:39:51] Melody: well, I'm not, I don't like jumping from planes. We determined that two years ago, but she did.
So I'm not planning on it, but I do think that's very cool that you know where it's going, so would be
[00:40:00] Default_2025-12-04_1: amazing and quiet. Mm-hmm. Right.
[00:40:02] John: And again,
[00:40:03] Melody: the whole noise thing, like water world, and
[00:40:05] John: yes, the noise thing is fantastic. Mm-hmm. But, but again, and that's a, i, I know I keep doing this, but going back to our community.
I can see our community eating those up.
[00:40:12] Melody: Oh, for sure. Very. We've got all these young tech, we're very, very high tech techs and
[00:40:16] John: people that are techno are savvy.
[00:40:18] Melody: Absolutely. And they wanna
[00:40:19] John: be cutting edge. And I could just see, I mean, I could see in the near future a drone going from the airport to RTP
[00:40:27] Melody: Oh yeah.
To bring
[00:40:27] John: people to and from their office.
[00:40:29] Melody: Absolutely. Um,
[00:40:29] John: something I kind of related, something I always point out to my wife is on Sundays. We're underneath the flight path. I always point out to her the number of private jets that are coming back on Sundays.
[00:40:40] Melody: Oh, for sure. And
[00:40:40] John: I always point out to her, these are, these are wealthy people coming back to work.
Mm-hmm. So they went wherever they went for the weekend in their private jet to went to Paris, the Caribbean, or to Paris, and they're coming back and, and that's another thing, you know, I, I. With this, with this job, I focus so much on the airlines, but don't forget, RDU has what, what's called general aviation in the industry.
Mm-hmm. And that is, you know, the little airplanes, the private jets. Yeah. The business jets. Can
[00:41:03] Default_2025-12-04_1: they park their aircraft? So actually
[00:41:06] John: they actually have their own spot on the airport called the the General Aviation Ramp. But it's a huge ramp with two businesses that. Service them. They're called FBOs, but they service those private jets and that's where your charters will come in.
So whenever like our, our teams, our colleges travel or the hurricanes, they utilize that general aviation area.
[00:41:25] Melody: Okay. Well I would like a private tour of that, John. Thank
[00:41:27] John: you so much. Oh yeah, yeah.
[00:41:28] Melody: Buy somewhere. I would like a tour of that, please. Yeah. Yeah. So
[00:41:32] John: we, we have, we have quite a few of those. I always tell people like, as far as our community goes, we have a lot of rich people.
But we don't have that many wealthy people so that they, I, I compare it to Florida. What's a rich
[00:41:42] Default_2025-12-04_1: person versus wealthy? I'm from Florida, so I know, talking about a hundred
[00:41:44] John: million. So we have a lot of millionaires here, but we don't really have a ton of people with, you know, multiple private jets. Like I kind of dealt with in Florida, at the little airport I was in South Florida.
What airport were you at? Um, I worked at Fort Pierce.
[00:41:57] Default_2025-12-04_1: Oh yeah.
[00:41:58] John: So
[00:41:58] Default_2025-12-04_1: I got a horse at, in Fort Myers. So Fort Myers. Okay, so that's West Coast. You're from Florida Actually. Yeah, I didn't, I was born in Boynton. Oh, okay. Okay. Mm-hmm. Okay. Yep. That's awesome. There's a lot of money in South Florida.
[00:42:10] John: Yeah, for sure.
That's, yeah, for sure. There's a lot of, lot of money here, so I, I see that growing too, by the way. Mm-hmm. So we're talking about all these, you know, commercial travelers. So
[00:42:18] Melody: much drive here. I mean, even like the, um, where the, the hurricanes, I guess, where they. That whole area, it's now gonna be, I guess, like a hotel.
And they're gonna change that dynamic a little bit too. So yeah,
[00:42:29] John: there's, there's plans to continue to improve what we call the airport campus. Mm-hmm. Um, and the rental car process is, is something that, that's, that we're, we're trying to improve as well. We have a
[00:42:41] Melody: great idea for that, if you wanna
[00:42:42] John: know
[00:42:42] Melody: in the
[00:42:42] John: future.
Yeah,
[00:42:43] Melody: of course.
[00:42:44] Default_2025-12-04_1: I think the rental car process. At RDU, although I don't really, we don't rent them from RDU, but at any airport where you can't,
[00:42:52] Melody: we were in Phoenix for this conversation. Yeah. Where you
[00:42:55] Default_2025-12-04_1: can't just walk in from your terminal. Sure. Then drive out. For sure. It's very inconvenient. Yeah's more like travel.
Yeah, when I travel. I
[00:43:04] John: love that. I love that. And I love not having to get on a bus.
[00:43:06] Default_2025-12-04_1: Oh, for sure. And,
[00:43:07] John: and go to the rental cars like Las Vegas. It's like Melanie, um,
[00:43:09] Default_2025-12-04_1: melody couldn't find a really great rental. I have said Enterprise. And she goes, you know what? That's too expensive. So, oh gosh. She bused us. It was called New New Car Rental.
[00:43:20] Melody: New
[00:43:20] Erica: new car.
[00:43:21] Default_2025-12-04_1: And was it Key West? No, we were in Miami. We were in Miami and we, we really learned to appreciate. The rental companies that, that are in the airport versus having they get there contracts with Yeah, absolutely. Well, the companies in general.
[00:43:36] Erica: Okay.
[00:43:37] Default_2025-12-04_1: Renting from the airport is safer, in my opinion, on quality and how?
Convenience. Convenience. I mean, convenience
[00:43:44] Melody: alone, it's even like parking at, you know, the airport. We'll pay, you know, we went most of the times when we travel, and even when I travel. Mm-hmm. We're going six days. Right, right. And we live all the way in Holly Springs. So to Uber it's like, well, I could just.
Pay to park there. Right. I'm gonna pay a premium to park there so I can be up close. So having something that's a little bit further away would be nice, but not have to worry about how am I gonna get there? It's gonna take me 30 minutes to wait for a bus. So if that's in the plans too for transportation.
Oh, for sure. That's one of the
[00:44:10] John: things that's wrapping up now is, is our remote parking over off of National Guard Boulevard by Sheets.
[00:44:15] Melody: Oh yeah. Right by the National Guard. Yeah. Yeah. So I think
[00:44:17] John: what, what is it now we have, it's called Park Economy three. Right. Think we have
[00:44:21] Melody: because it's substantially cheaper.
[00:44:23] John: Yeah. It's substantially cheaper. And they have the buses going nonstop, but I think there's 3000 spots now. But in a few months when it opens, there's gonna be 9,000 spots. Mm-hmm. Wow. And we're actually gonna get our first charging stations solar powered charging stations. Whoop. That's from our Tesla for all of our EVs.
When that battery dies
[00:44:40] Default_2025-12-04_1: and you're paying $30,000 No, there's a warranty on it. We have a, we have
[00:44:44] John: a, when I like our, our Tesla dealership dealership in, in Raleigh was actually. Periodically the number one in the entire country as far as number cars sold. Oh, absolutely. So as the airport, we wanted to respond to that and make sure that we're serving those customers.
How
[00:44:57] Default_2025-12-04_1: many charging stations would you anticipate?
[00:45:00] John: It's actually, it's actually gonna be a hundred charging stations. Yeah. There's a lot of people.
[00:45:03] Melody: Yeah, that
[00:45:04] Default_2025-12-04_1: and that's not too many. 'cause sometimes I'll go. Lot in Holly Springs, that new shopping center mm-hmm. Or complex that's across from 12 Oaks. Mm-hmm.
Feel like they almost have too many charging stations, and then the people that are not electric struggle because they're not allowed to park there. Yeah. So a hundred I understand the frustration for 9,000 spots is pretty reasonable. Yeah,
[00:45:23] John: exactly. And, and, and they, and they'll be full with, you know, longer term parkers, so, so
[00:45:27] Melody: still be buses that would get, or is there gonna be a different type of transportation to get to and from there?
Yeah, so
[00:45:31] John: there'll, there'll be regular buses and that's, that's also part of transform RDU U in the next. You know, five, six years is to kind of build a dedicated bus lane. So I see that would be so nice where those buses don't have to compete. Stop with cars with the rest of the traffic. Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Yeah. So not, I, I, I'm, I'm making, I'm coming up with this, but if you guys go to Disney a lot, there are dedicated lanes for the Disney buses. Yeah, yeah. It's, so that's the similar, convenient, that's, that's gonna be the similar situation r to you. But again, that's a few years away. But
[00:45:58] Default_2025-12-04_1: are they gonna build the runway first?
[00:46:00] John: Meeting. So all of this is happening. All of this is happening simultaneously. Okay. So redoing the roads,
[00:46:06] Default_2025-12-04_1: so the runway won't be open for five or six years, the runway won't be open until
[00:46:09] John: 2030? Yeah. Okay. So right now we're, we're currently doing what? The groundwork, so literally leveling and building up the ground where we're gonna pave the runway.
[00:46:19] Default_2025-12-04_1: Mm-hmm. And how do you maintain the runway that's gonna still be used for taxiing?
[00:46:23] John: Mm-hmm. So it is constantly, every fall. We are replacing what we call slabs of concrete. I think they're, I think they're 15 by 15.
[00:46:36] Melody: Is it 'cause they're cracking?
[00:46:37] John: It's because Yeah, they're cracking. Okay. So we are replacing those slabs, you know, daily with new slabs and, um, it, it's a complicated process, but yeah, we're keeping that runway alive 'cause we have to
[00:46:49] Erica: mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm. We're
[00:46:50] John: keeping that runway alive and safe and usable. Mm-hmm. While at the same time building the new runway. Right.
[00:46:55] Default_2025-12-04_1: Do you use a different type of cement for the new runway or mixture?
[00:46:59] John: Um, so it's, it's, it's all special cement. It's incredibly strong and incredibly expensive to handle, crack, handle the weight, it's of the, of the airplanes.
Um, but I think we're probably getting at, you're building one that's not gonna die. But when you think about it, but I mean,
[00:47:14] Default_2025-12-04_1: has it changed from when you built it or you've replaced so many slabs with the newer material? Like is it the same concrete? Yes,
[00:47:21] John: it's gonna be the same. It's gonna be the same aviation grade concrete.
Is the
[00:47:25] Default_2025-12-04_1: base gonna be different? Is the prep or is it all It's all standard. It's all pretty
[00:47:28] John: much the same. I'm sure. I think, I think the current runway that we're, that that's at the end of its life. I think it opened in 1986. Oh, wow.
[00:47:35] Default_2025-12-04_1: Ooh. So we've gotten about 40
[00:47:36] John: years out of it. Mm-hmm. And I think the expected life is 30 to 40 years.
So
[00:47:40] Default_2025-12-04_1: the new one would be. About about the same. What happens when that one runs out? Where are you gonna go? Well
[00:47:44] John: redo it. Rebuild it.
[00:47:45] Default_2025-12-04_1: The same one.
[00:47:46] John: Yeah,
[00:47:47] Default_2025-12-04_1: yeah, yeah. So, because you run outta space at that point. Exactly. Yeah. We
[00:47:50] John: didn't really, our, our airport property footprint doesn't really go any further. And, and there's other, I then there's gonna be just
[00:47:55] Default_2025-12-04_1: drones.
Right.
[00:47:56] Melody: 30, 40 years. It'll be a little bit easier about then it's completely different conversation. 'cause we were having a different conversation in the eighties than we are right now. A hundred percent.
[00:48:03] John: A hundred percent. Airplanes might be more efficient where they need a lot less runway to take off.
Sure. So who knows? But yeah, 40 years from now, you know, I'll be retired. So. I won't have to worry about that. Oh, you won't be
[00:48:12] Default_2025-12-04_1: answering emails weekend. Yeah. I'll still be answering emails then.
[00:48:16] John: Yeah. Weekend.
[00:48:16] Default_2025-12-04_1: Yeah. But
[00:48:17] John: yeah, that's, that is actually a good question. What are gonna do when this one runs out?
Where? Where's the next runway? So,
[00:48:21] Default_2025-12-04_1: and what's the reason to not. 'cause you need the taxi lane. Why not just, oh, 'cause you have to keep Yeah. You gotta flights and stuff going. Yeah. Because mm-hmm. Yeah.
[00:48:29] John: What do you mean? What's the reason for keeping it open? I
[00:48:31] Default_2025-12-04_1: answered my own question. Yeah, because you can't redo it.
It takes so long to do. Mm-hmm. And the
[00:48:36] John: good news, which you, you probably wondering is, well when, so are you guys gonna go down the run one runway at some point? My understanding is. Literally our existing runway that we use every day, it's gonna close one night and it's not gonna reopen and the other one's gonna open.
[00:48:51] Erica: Oh. So there's
[00:48:52] John: not gonna be any lag time where it's like, we're down to one runway, we're, we're, we're making sure that we build this existing runway. Mm-hmm. I mean, we build this new in tandem with that this Yeah. In tandem. Mm-hmm. And so we can use the existing runway right up until the end of. And, and close it.
It turns into a taxi and the other one opens.
[00:49:08] Default_2025-12-04_1: That's great. Yeah. That's really interesting. Fun. Exciting. That's fun. Are you kind of part of that process, you see it?
[00:49:12] John: Yeah, so I work, my little job is in the planning department. So my, literally my boss is the vice president of planning and Sustainability. Um, so yeah, I get to, I get to be privy to all of that, which is awesome 'cause I get to understand kind of what the airport's doing and then I can talk to people like you and talk to people in the community and have a lot more insight into what's actually going on.
So that's really neat. It's actually a really good perk of my job to get to understand what's going on.
[00:49:35] Melody: I love that. Yeah, that's great. Well, it was really fun talking to you, so yeah, thank you. Fun. We really appreciate so educational. Yeah. Yeah.
[00:49:42] John: I just wanna leave you guys with, never hesitate other realtors that are listening to this never hesitate to have your people call me.
Mm-hmm. My little line, I always tell people I would never, ever tell anyone not to buy a home. I just present them with data and then talk them through decision, kind of what to expect
[00:49:56] Default_2025-12-04_1: decision. Yeah. I feel like the real estate agent, while with the client, can give them really great feedback. They care.
When I was at the showing, I was like, you know, for the right person they're not gonna care. But these people specifically really love the outdoors. Mm-hmm. And they said that it was bothering them. And at that point I'm like, well then. This isn't the home for you. It's not the home for you. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's just like my house.
It's, but there's somebody that's just gonna love. Mm-hmm. It was a beautiful property and the location was phenomenal. Mm-hmm. And it's not a reason to, not you even five 40. Yeah. Or anything else that was scary at first. The dump in Holly Springs has Harris Lake. Nice odors occasionally.
[00:50:29] Melody: Yeah. It, it's, it's any, it's just nuclear power plant.
Yeah. It's, it's just disclosed. I mean, I live on a main road and it doesn't bother me, but to someone, it's, some people it might, it will. Right. So it just depends on. If you don't want the noise and you're like, I just don't wanna hear it. 'cause we're growing. We are a community that's growing. We've grown drastically since 2021 specifically.
So as we grow, the more you're gonna see noise and all of these things. So that's why we have rural areas that you don't, you're not affected in Clayton by the runway and a
[00:50:57] John: hundred percent, you know,
[00:50:58] Melody: over here in RDU and you're picking that area for that purpose usually. So true. Yeah.
[00:51:02] John: And then again, just don't forget.
[00:51:04] Melody: For it. We'll have some noise. We'll have some noise. Yes. But, and
[00:51:06] John: then just don't forget that the airplanes are only getting quieter. That's right. That's such a great
[00:51:11] Default_2025-12-04_1: thing to re
[00:51:12] John: Yeah, I, I always, I gotta reiterate that at the end of this, it's just. Keep that in mind that they're only getting quieter.
They're only getting more efficient, so,
[00:51:19] Melody: and they're only gonna get better. I always
[00:51:20] John: tell people, now is the worst case scenario. It's only gonna get better,
[00:51:23] Melody: so, oh, for sure. Absolutely.
[00:51:24] Default_2025-12-04_1: Great point. Well, we appreciate your time. Yeah, sure. And sending all of our clients and our agents to you. Please do. Please do.
And sending them this video. Awesome. Thank you so much. We really thank you guys so much. Have a great one. Yeah, thanks. See you. All right. Bye.