Noise News
Below are links to stories about noise in relation to airports and aviation.
Leader of Richmond Council: Government aviation strategy ignores Heathrow health impacts
The Leader of Richmond Council, commenting on the DfT's consultation on the draft aviation strategy (closed 13th October), says it tries to shut down any discussion on expansion at Heathrow and puts the demand for additional flights ahead of the health impact on communities affected by increased noise and worsening air quality. Leader Paul Hodgins, speaking on behalf of Wandsworth, Richmond, Hillingdon and Windsor and Maidenhead councils, said: “It is difficult to see what purpose the draft aviation strategy serves when, in it, the government is ignoring the problem of Heathrow. First we had a pro-Heathrow airport draft national policy statement with no details on flightpaths, out of date passenger demand figures, an economic case which doesn’t stand up and unattainable pollution limits. Now we have a national strategy that leaves out Heathrow. Any serious attempt at a UK-wide policy must come before any policy on individual airports, including Heathrow." He also said: “The Government should withdraw this partial and disingenuous strategy document, abandon its unjustified policy support for Heathrow and begin again with an approach that people can trust.”
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HACAN East presents London City Airport with a 30th Birthday cake – it’s time for it to clean up its act
Campaigners at local group HACAN East want London City airport to stop growing, cap the number of annual flights & end concentrated flight paths, to protect residents from the noise and the pollution. Today was London City Airport's 30th birthday. Campaigners - dressed up as bakers - presented the airport will a beautiful cake. They say that now it is 30 years old, it should CLEAN UP ITS ACT. The campaign wants London City to be a better neighbour - the airport is in a totally inappropriate location, surrounded by such densely populated areas that are home to so many people. The airport should NOT be allowed to grow further, as it affects too many people. There is a moving film, with people affected by the airport speaking out. One lady says: "We have lived in our house in Mottingham, SE 9, for over 35 years, Then last year without any consultation or warning we suddenly found we had low flying, noisy planes coming over our house from early morning till late at nights. These flights are devastating to me. I sometimes hate living in my house and I want to move. But the thought of moving away from family and friends at this stage in our life is just too hard to do." A sad reflection on how aviation impacts people's lives.
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Residents across many areas negatively affected by Heathrow protest against 700 MORE planes per day
A number of areas already badly affected by Heathrow plane noise held photo shoots early today, to provide a graphic visual reminder of just how much worse the noise problem would be, if a Heathrow 3rd runway was built. Links to photos of some of the actions below. It is likely that a 3rd runway would enable about 50% more flights per year. That translates to around 700 more planes, every day (350 more landings, 350 more take offs) with the runway. Though not all would go over the same areas, it means more planes and more noise for those under existing flight paths, and new intense noise pollution to many areas (details are not yet known) not currently overflown. The groups in areas already overflown, especially in areas near Heathrow, used 700 red cardboard planes, at their different locations - getting their message across "loud and clear" just one day after the DfT announced its second phase of consultation on the Airports NPS (National Policy Statement), which aims to press through the Heathrow 3rd runway. This consultation deals with air pollution, noise and passenger forecast data - none of which was properly available during the earlier NPS consultation that closed in May. The need for the 2nd consultation demonstrates just how weak the case for the Heathrow runway is, and the enormity of the hurdles it faces, including those on environmental issues.
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Dublin: Planned new 2nd runway twist as IAA grounded on aircraft noise
Fresh complications are clouding the planned use of a new runway project at Dublin Airport after the Irish Government backtracked on proposals to put the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) in charge of enforcing an EU aircraft noise regulation. New legal advice from the Attorney General's office has meant that it "would not be consistent with the principles of good corporate governance of the IAA as a whole" to appoint the authority as the competent body to enforce the legislation, contained in regulation EU 598/14. The decision has left the Department of Transport scrabbling for an alternative to the IAA. The EU regulation was introduced to reduce the noise impact from aircraft arriving and departing at airports in the EU. Its implementation could have consequences for Dublin Airport, where passenger traffic is expected to hit about 30 million this year. The DAA, which controls Dublin and Cork airports, has almost finished site preparation work for the new runway, and a tender for the actual runway construction is expected to be awarded next year. The runway is due to be operational in 2021. Local residents and groups have mounted High Court legal challenges against the runway plans.
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Buyers of new homes near Schiphol airport to get official warnings about aircraft noise (to avoid future complaints)
People moving into new homes close to Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport will be warned about aircraft noise before they move in, and the warning will become part of sales contracts. Agreement on an official aircraft noise warning has been reached between the Dutch junior infrastructure minister, Schiphol airport, airline KLM and local and provincial governments. While no new homes are being built directly under flight paths, thousands of houses are being built in areas where noise is likely to be a problem - as aircraft noise is heard some way from the direct line of a flight path. In particular, 4,500 new homes are being built south-east of Amsterdam close to the Buitenveldert runway and there are other building projects in areas where aircraft noise will have to be taken into consideration. People are told they can then not complain about plane noise, so the aviation industry will not be faced with extra costs and further expansion of housing stock will be made possible. It has already been agreed that municipalities and provinces will point out the new residents to potential inconvenience. Municipalities will not submit requests to change the flight path routes. The aim is that housing can not block further aviation growth after 2020.
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AvGen analysis casts doubt on accuracy of Heathrow’s “Fly Quiet & Clean” league table
Following the recent revisions to Heathrow's flagship "Fly Quiet" programme, which every 3 months ranks the airport's top 50 airlines on their environmental performance, UK-based consultancy AvGen Limited has cast serious doubts on the published results. Some of the anomalies AvGen uncovered are that in the latest Q2 2017 results of some of the airport's regular scheduled airlines, such as Icelandair, MEA and Egyptair, while carriers with markedly fewer flights during the period (for example Croatian and China Southern) are included. Another anomaly is airlines being awarded scores on average 45% higher than their performance, under Heathrow's own published rules, should merit. There is also inconsistent application of the "weighting" scheme, resulting in most airlines not being ranked in their true position (e.g. top performer Delta Air Lines gets demoted to 7th place). There is a serious lack of transparency, with no way to know how many points a given airline is awarded for each individual environmental measure, such as NOx emissions, and no ability to tell whether a carrier's performance in any area has improved or worsened quarter-on-quarter. So the Heathrow tables, much flaunted by the airport, mean very little and are not helpful.
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Frustration as Gatwick continues to blight communities with noise – new independent noise survey for residents
The Chair of CAGNE, representing communities affected by Gatwick noise in West Sussex and Surrey, has met senior members at the DfT to raise concerns about the continuing problems. A year on from the formation of the Gatwick Noise Management Board (NMB), Gatwick continues to ignore the people most impacted by aircraft noise, day and night 7 days a week - with no respite. CAGNE says Gatwick airport continues to focus on areas that already have respite from plane noise, with some seeing a decline in aircraft movements according to data from the CAA. To get a better picture of the problem, CAGNE has now launched an independent survey questionnaire for residents. It is being circulated to CAGNE members, parish and town councils via the CAGNE Council Aviation Forum. It is also being sent to MP in affected constituencies, asking them to encourage residents to take part in the survey. It is a huge concern for those already affected by the airport that Gatwick continues to push for a 2nd runway, (even if there is a 3rd Heathrow runway) and CAGNE will be attending the Conservative Party Conference to ensure that the community’s voice of frustration at Gatwick’s continued blight is heard.
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FAA cites over 42,000 complaints of plane noise from residents near Washington airports
The FAA’s annual aircraft report lists 42,683 complaints about noisy flights from Reagan airport (Washington) and Dulles International airport (Washington) in 2016. That compares with just 10,000 complaints the year before. Many people are complaining about planes about every three minutes, all day long. People say the plane noises increased tremendously since December 2015. That’s when the FAA launched a new GPS navigation tool called the Next Generation Air Transportation System, or NextGen for short. The system, which takes the place of radar, allows planes to travel safely at closer distances, and to use more direct routes - and means concentrated, narrow flight paths. Upset residents call the flight paths “sacrificial noise corridors,” with the same routes being used continually, over the same homes and neighbourhoods. People are being badly affected, and unable to use their outdoor space, because of noise intrusion. Local group the “DC Fair Skies Coalition" is suing the FAA to move routes back to over the Potomac and other waterways, as they were before. The FAA is unwilling to change anything, as the concentrated routes improve their efficiency and save airlines a small amount of money on fuel. One resident said, on plane noise: “It goes away, but as soon as the noise is gone, another plane starts.”
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CAA rejects Edinburgh Airport’s application for flight path change due to “Technical and Coordination” issues
Edinburgh airport’s planned new flight path has been put on hold after the CAA announced it was halting the process. The CAA’s decision - which is very unusual - is understood to relate to technical aspects of the proposal, as well as a delay in receiving elements of the submission. It is not yet clear what this means for local communities that are affected by the airport and its noise, but the CAA decision is welcomed by local noise campaigners. This was the first Airspace Change proposal, by Edinburgh airport, which anticipates many more. Local group, Edinburgh Airport Watch (EAW) said that during the 2 year consultation process, multiple flaws and errors by the airport were identified at every stage. It remains to be seen whether the CAA will require a new application by Edinburgh airport to be determined under the CAA’s new rules for Airspace Change, rather than the old ones. Many people under newly concentrated flight paths have been experiencing much worse plane noise, in the past few years. EAW says the airport now has fewer aircraft movements than 10 years ago, and new routes are not needed. They want the airport to "learn from their past mistakes, and start a proper, meaningful and respectful dialogue with Communities that leads to substantial improvements."
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Consultation on flight path changes at Leeds Bradford airport – ends 6th October
A public consultation (ends 5th November) is under way into air space changes around Leeds Bradford Airport. The departure routes will not change, but aircraft will climb quicker, reducing plane noise to some of those under the flight paths. The airport says that to provide improved spacing between arriving and departing aircraft and greater efficiency of operation, the new procedures require additional airspace within which to manoeuvre aircraft. Some new areas would be overflown. After the consultation, the airport will submit its application to the CAA, which has 17 weeks to reply. Once approval is achieved, LBA will complete controller training with the changes set to be implemented from autumn next year. The proposals affect Class G airspace, and would significantly concentrate flight paths – so some local residents will be blighted with considerably more noise then they experience today whilst others may benefit. The documentation claims that the change in airspace proposed will not automatically mean an increase in air passenger numbers and aircraft movements but then refers readers to the airports development plan published elsewhere which clearly states their ambition to grow passenger numbers to 7 million per year by 2030 (from around 3.5 million now).