Noise News
Below are links to stories about noise in relation to airports and aviation.
Heathrow aircraft noise must be cut says Henley MP, John Howell
The MP for Henley, John Howell, has called for a “significant reduction” in noise from aircraft over the Henley area. With other MPs from Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Surrey he had a meeting with representatives from Heathrow and NATS about the increased noise problem they are experiencing. Mr Howell has had complaints from constituents about increased noise from aircraft coming into land at Heathrow, particularly when there was an easterly wind, when planes circled over Henley. Martin Rolfe, chief executive of NATS, "accepted that increased aircraft noise was a problem for some people" and agreed to investigate individual issues of serious disturbance if they were reported to him by the MPs. [Whatever that will achieve]. Mr Rolfe said there had been no changes to routes but that the flight patterns within controlled airspace changed almost daily. This is the standard thing the airspace management bodies say. People overflown know they experience a change. The CAA etc use semantics to say this is not technically a change, but just a difference in how a route is flown. One of the key improvements in how the airspace change is managed is to recognise and accept that changes to fleet mix, intensity of use of a route, height of planes and times of day are all changes. They have to in future be acknowledged as such, and taken into account fully in the process.
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HACAN East meets CAA to thrash out noise problems caused by newly concentrated routes
John Stewart and Rob Barnstone from HACAN East at London City Airport had a 2 hour meeting with the five members of the CAA, to discuss the new concentrated flight paths-causing intensified noise. The CAA is aware of the unhappiness amongst communities and local authorities at their decision to allow flight path changes in February 2016. One of the most unpopular changes is concentration of the departures route, in westerly winds, that takes off towards the west and turns north and east. The other change is for arrivals, in easterly winds, when planes approach from east, south of the airport. Most of these communities are also overflown by Heathrow planes on the days there is a westerly wind. Both these have led to intensified noise for thousands of people. London City Airport had argued that they could get away with minimal consultation on these changes because the changes were "not significant." However, there has been a definite change since February. HACAN East pointed out that the CAA that there was no mechanism to look at changes over time. There were many changes made in 2008 when the flight paths were changed to accommodate the larger planes which needed to make a much wider turn. HACAN East stressed that respite was important to local communities. People are encouraged to contact the CAA and the airport, to express their views on the noise issue.
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Polish study of effects of aircraft noise shows increased hypertension and cardiovascular impacts
A study carried out in Krakow, Poland, has found that long term exposure to aircraft noise is associated with hypertension and organ damage. The study included 201 randomly selected adults aged 40 to 66 years who had lived for more than three years in an area with high or low aircraft noise. Of these, 101 were exposed to more than 60 decibels (dB) of aircraft noise on average and 100 were exposed to less than 55 dB and acted as a control group. The researchers matched the groups in pairs by gender, age, and amount of time living in the area. All participants had their blood pressure measured. Asymptomatic organ damage was assessed by measuring stiffness of the aorta and the mass and function of the left ventricle. They found that the group who lived in an area of high aircraft noise had more hypertension than those who lived in a low aircraft noise area (40% versus 24%). They also had higher systolic (146 versus 138 mmHg) and diastolic (89 versus 79 mmHg) blood pressure than the control group. The researchers say "There is emerging data to suggest that exposure to aircraft noise may increase the risk of hypertension, particularly at night, and of hospitalisation for cardiovascular diseases – but more evidence is needed.” Also that noise should be kept down, by "redirecting flight paths, keeping airports away from homes, and avoiding night flights.”
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Tunbridge Wells aircraft noise group produces report on correct 3 degree CDA heights for Gatwick arrivals
The Tunbridge Wells Anti Aircraft Noise Group (TWAANG) has researched the actual heights of aircraft around their area, approaching Gatwick. They are concerned that planes are not descending into Gatwick using the approved 3 degree Continuous Descent Approach (CDA), from 7,000 ft or even 6,000 ft. Instead, planes as far out as 20 - 30 miles from the runway are descending by merely 1 or 2 degrees, and are much lower than they should be, using a proper 3 degree CDA. TWAANG have produced data showing the actual heights of planes arriving at Gatwick, against the heights they should theoretically be at. For example, at 15 nautical miles from the runway, planes descending at 3 degrees should be at about 4,500 feet, and at 20 nm out, they should be at 6,000 feet. At a 1 degree the heights would be 3,500 feet and 4,000 feet respectively. Pilots are encouraged by DfT and industry guidelines to keep their aircraft high and to use a 3° angle of descent in a low power low drag (LPLD) configuration. The lower heights mean there is greater disturbance than necessary for people being overflown, and the flatter angle of descent is likely to require engine power to sustain, creating unnecessary noise and poor economic performance. TWAANG say: "We observe plenty of aircraft making full CDAs from 7,000ft already, what is difficult to understand is why such a high proportion fail to follow their example."
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Martin Rolfe NATS blogs illustrate the irreconcilable conflict between increased plane noise and community tolerance
Martin Rolfe, the CEO of NATS, writes blogs - putting the NATS points of view. He talks largely to an industry audience, but has to try to avoid irritating members of the public who find being noisily overflown unacceptable. A couple of these blogs are below, and a response sent to some complainants. The thing that stands out is the language used by the airspace management industry. They like to hide behind the complexity of the process, hoping this will obscure details and make it difficult for the public to understand. Both NATS and the CAA have the difficulty that they get their money from the airlines, and it is not in their interests to do anything other than benefit them. Both realise they have a real problem with the amount of anger, upset, misery and opposition there now is to exposure to high levels of aircraft noise. Both have a real problem in attempting to cram ever more flights, ever more flight paths - and concentrated flight paths - into the skies over crowded areas. Unfortunately for them, most of the UK - the south east in particular - is densely populated. There ARE no empty areas for flight paths to over fly in the south east. So the only thing on offer is to try and tweak the noise a bit, shift it slightly from one place to another, and make communities fight it out between themselves as to who is to be worst affected. The concept of "enough is enough" is not in the mindset of the CAA or of NATS.
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Edinburgh airport starts 1st stage of consultation to get more RNAV routes in place by summer 2018
Edinburgh airport met strenuous opposition when it ran a trial that started in June 2015 of the TUTUR route. Now Edinburgh has put out a consultation (ends 12th September) of the first phase of a process of getting more airspace changes. The consultation is not on actual routes. The airport says: "The positions of the new routes have not yet been determined. We seek to inform the decisions regarding where best to position these routes by consulting with those impacted or who have an interest." The question in the consultation is “what local factors should be taken into account when determining the position of the route within the design envelope given the potential impacts, and why?” They say feedback "will inform the detailed design process and will influence the design options." Once draft routes have been designed, a further consultation (probably summer 2017) will take place on the detailed design of the routes. After the second consultation, Edinburgh Airport will submit an airspace change proposal to the CAA. They have been careful to get their consultation in quickly, before the CAA system of improving the airspace change process comes into being. " The target date for the RNAV routes to come into operation is Summer 2018." Consultees cannot comment on air traffic growth, airport expansion, or government policy on airspace noise (or the lack of it), or of PBN or the desirability of RNAV.
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Teddington Action Group (TAG) questions the necessity of low-flying heavy aircraft from Heathrow
Teddington Action Group has questioned the necessity of low-flying aircraft from Heathrow and state that they are flying lower compared to other airports causing more noise, more suffering and more CO2 emissions than at almost any other airport in the World. TAG wants the Heathrow Airport London (Noise Abatement Requirements) Notice 2010 to be amended and tightened so as to require planes to climb from Heathrow at a rate of up to three times that which exists at present. This will bring Heathrow into line with other major international airports. TAG is asking that: (1). All aircraft must attain at least 2,500 ft [up from 1,000 ft] by 6.5 kilometres from start of roll. And (2). Thereafter all aircraft must keep climbing at a rate of at least 12% [up from 4%] until 6,000 ft [up from 4,000 ft]. Currently planes using Heathrow have some of the lowest flying and lowest climbing rates of any airport in the world and as a result cause more noise pollution locally. For economic reasons, heavy long haul flights find it cheaper to burn more fuel on a slower initial climb, but save on engine maintenance. Lighter short haul planes may benefit from steeper initial take-offs. The current rates of climb, under the 2010 regulations, are so undemanding that even very ancient aircraft can attain them.
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Gatwick provides more details of the wider swathe of arrivals onto the ILS, from the Arrivals Review
The main reason why Gatwick had to set up the Independent Arrivals Review was the fury and anguish, largely from areas around 10 - 14 miles from the airport, due to changes in 2013 to the distance at which planes joined the ILS (the final straight line flight path onto the runway). NATS and Gatwick had decided, allegedly for safety but in practice to make maximum use of the runway at busy times, to get most planes to join the ILS at 10 nautical miles out, while before that, some joined as close as 7 nm. The concentrated noise over some areas, not previously over-flown, caused unprecedented opposition. The Arrivals Review recommended that the swathe, both east and west of Gatwick, be widened to 8 - 14 nm, and that there should be more fair and equitable distribution of the noise of planes joining the ILS. A large part of the "Final Action Plan" deals with this. It attempts to allay fears that, to save fuel, many planes will try to cut a corner, and concentrate around the 8nm area. It tries to allay fears that there will be concentrated parts of the routes, and that people living relatively near Gatwick - (around 7 - 9nm or so) will suffer unduly from noise of both arrivals and departures. However, Gatwick says it is "not possible to predict precisely the distribution of aircraft within the swathe" and this will be "carefully monitored and reported to the Noise Management Board" which in turn will publish its findings and any conclusions.
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Gatwick produces Final Action Plan to implement Independent Review of Arrivals recommendations
On 31st March Gatwick, made its initial response to the Arrivals Review, carried out by Bo Redeborn and Graham Lake. Gatwick then had to hold la 6 week consultation on the Proposed Action Plan, which ended on the 16th May. Gatwick has now produced its Final Action Plan. It confirms it has accepted all the Review's recommendations. As well as accelerating the retrofitting of Airbus A320 planes to remove the "whine", two issues in the Review that generated the most public input were widening the "swathe" for arriving planes as the join the ILS to 8 - 14 nautical miles, and the setting up of a Gatwick Noise Management Board (NMB), on which a few community representatives can sit. Gatwick says the NMB will "oversee joint strategies to deal with noise around the airport." It will be chaired by Bo Redeborn, and its first meeting will be on 21st June. In response to extensive feedback, community representation on the NMB has been increased from two representatives to four, and further analysis has been carried out to quantify more fully the impact of widening the arrivals swathe. There remain concerns by those living near the airport that some people will suffer from noise of both arrivals and departures, and Gatwick has produced maps to illustrate that it anticipates this will not be a problem for a large area.
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Gatwick Route 4 finally re-routed as local MP warns about noise misery dangers of a 2nd runway
On 26th May, the amended Gatwick departure flight path named "Route 4", taking off towards the west from Gatwick, went in to operation. This route turning north and then east - to fly towards the east. With the implementation of precision-area navigation (PR-NAV) at Gatwick in 2014, changes were made to Route 4 which made it more concentrated, and slightly to the north of the main NPR (Noise Preferential Route). This resulted in thousands of people suffering intense and frequent plane noise, for the first time. The local group, Plane Wrong, was formed to fight the changes. The PIR (Post Implementation Review) by the CAA in 2015 showed that the change to Route 4 was not "compliant" with regulations, and it should revert to how it was before early 2014. However, it has taken a long time for this reversion to actually happen. The route that has now started means the SID (Standard Instrument Departure) turning circle is a little tighter so planes avoid the densely populated urban areas of Reigate and Redhill. It is regrettable that it took so long for an unacceptable flight path, that could be introduced so quickly without warning, could take so long to reverse. Local MP Crispin Blunt warned that the noise situation with a 2nd Gatwick runway would be completely unacceptable, with no noise mitigation measures in prospect.