Airplane noise may be driving them crazy, but nearby residents weren’t crazy when they complained they got no relief after Fort Lauderdale’s main airport reopened a second runway this month.

People living under the flight path west of the airport’s south runway endured four months of all airport flights taking off from and landing on that runway while the main north runway was rebuilt.

That situation ended Oct. 1, when flights started using the north runway again. But since the north runway came back on line, almost all the landings at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport have continued to come in from the west — over their homes — and onto the the south runway.

“When will the north, main, runway really open,” complained resident Gary Luedtke, who has seen few planes coming in to land on the north runway. "Open is defined as accepting airliner arrivals.”

Luedtke said neighbors have been complaining about fainting spells caused by sleep deprivation from frequent overnight landings, and the endless feeling of homes vibrating and light fixtures rattling since the runway construction began in June.

Airport officials acknowledge the upset residents aren’t dreaming. Construction work that is still being done on taxiways connected to the north runway continue to alter how take-offs and landings are handled.

During the past three weeks the north runway has been open, only 6 percent of the airport’s landings have used that runway, while 87 percent of the take-offs have been on it, officials said. Departures are less of an issue this time of year, as prevailing winds usually have them taking off to the east over the ocean and affecting far fewer homeowners.

But the dramatic split in how the runways are being used means many airline passengers wait longer on board planes to take-off or get to their gate. Flights with terminals on the airport’s south side have to taxi longer before taking off, while those landing with terminals on the north side have a longer distance to go before they reach their arrival gates.

Most of the inconvenience should be over by Nov. 15, officials said, when the remaining overnight work on the airfield is expected to be completed. But they said there will continue to be minimal disruptions to north runway traffic until March.

“In the past week, there has been a gradual increase in the number of arrival flight operations on [the north runway] and that trend is expected to continue as we open supporting taxiways,” airport spokesman Gregory Meyer wrote in an email.

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