Noise News
Below are links to stories about noise in relation to airports and aviation.
Heathrow finally completes £4.8 million of insulation work on schools etc – after 10 years
Heathrow has finally finished installing noise insulation at the 42 schools and other community buildings (31 in Hounslow) where it promised in 2005 to carry out the work. It has taken 10 years, and it cost Heathrow £4.8 million. Heathrow said in 2005 it would install double glazing and make other improvements to minimise the din from aircraft, at selected schools etc under its flight paths. Now, pressing for a runway, John Holland-Kaye ensured the work under the Community Building Noise Insulation scheme was completed this April. Part of the cost is the adobe buildings for school playgrounds, in which children can be taught "outdoors" under the dome. How being inside an adobe dome counts as being "outdoors" is a mystery. The adobe buildings have cost £1.8 million, from Heathrow, and have been installed in 5 schools in Hounslow and Slough - with 5 more due to be completed in Hounslow this year. If Heathrow gets a 3rd runway, it has "promised" to spend £700 million insulating homes, schools and other buildings affected by aircraft noise - more than 20 times the £30 million currently on offer. But is it not saying if it will make any improvements, if it does not get a runway. John Stewart, chairman of HACAN, said: "What's important is that further insulation should not be dependent on a third runway."
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Stop Stansted Expansion calls for cross-party support at the election, to end night flights
Ahead of the general election and local council elections on 7th May, SSE is calling upon all local candidates to support a ban on night flights at Stansted. Stansted currently has permission to operate 12,000 night flights a year, between 11.30pm - 6am, more than twice as many as are permitted at Heathrow. [Heathrow is restricted to 5,800 night take-offs & landings /year between 11.30pm- 6am]. SSE has long argued to the Government that night flights have a far greater impact on local residents around Stansted because of its rural location where background noise levels are generally very low. The number of Stansted night flights has significantly increased over the past year, and this is believed to be largely due to the closure of Manston Airport and transfer of its cargo flights. SSE says "night" should not only be a 6½ hour period, but should be the 8 hours between 11.00pm to 7.00am, to give people a proper night's rest. There are no restrictions on the number of aircraft permitted to take-off and land at Stansted during the so-called shoulder periods between 11.00pm and 11.30pm and between 6.00am and 7.00am. SSE is inviting politicians of all parties to support a timetable to progressively phase out nights flight
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Knutsford Council urged to lobby Manchester airport over possible increase in night flights
Councillors in Knutsford are planning to lobby Manchester Airport on concerns about more night flights over the town. Knutsford is only a few kilometres from the end of the runway. Map. A Knutsford councillor, who is on the airport’s community relations team, was informed by the airport's management that Terminal 2 is set to double in size, with plans for more night flights to cope with increased traffic. This will affect Knutsford. Currently, an agreement curtails night flights - take offs and landings - but circumstances will change with both the expansion and the ending of the current arrangements in 2017. The council need to lobby on details of the timing of those night flights. The airport statement gave the usual bland assurances about "improving the passenger and airline experience" and having controls on night noise that are "amongst the toughest in the UK " and balancing the "interests of our local communities and the demand from our passengers to fly." Sadly, the benefit tot he airlines and passengers generally trumps the interests of the residents. Manchester Airport allows a large number of night flights already - with a limit of around 11,000 per year (7% of the total flights). That can work out to more than 45 per night, in the period from 23:30 to 06.00.
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Teddington residents miserable under Heathrow easterly take-offs – though officially they are not affected
Teddington is an area largely affected by easterly take-offs from Heathrow. The wind direction in the south east of England is generally for westerly winds for around 70 - 77% of the time. The level of aircraft noise over Teddington is therefore not a problem during westerly take-offs. The way aircraft noise is measured - by taking an average over a period of time, and over many months, rather than the plane noise on a particular day - means that Teddington and areas like it, are not deemed to be within the noise contours that imply a significant level of noise nuisance. However, during periods of easterly winds, which can last for over 10 days, the level of noise is deeply intrusive. The campaign, Teddington Action Group, has made a powerful short film that illustrates the noise they are subjected to, for perhaps 25 -30% of the year. Yet, on the noise averaging system used by the CAA and the Airports Commission, they are considered not to be affected by noise. They wonder how many other areas can be regarded as untroubled by noise, when the reality on the ground is very different. And how much worse would this situation get, with how many more affected, if there was a Heathrow 3rd runway. Watch the film.
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Illinois State Senate passes bills designed to reduce O’Hare jet noise
In late 2013 the flight paths at Chicago O'Hare airport were changed, and since then thousands of residents have been exposed to far more aircraft noise. The authorities are trying to find ways to reduce their noise exposure. The Illinois Senate has now unanimously approved legislation to mitigate jet noise by increasing the cap on the number of runways to 10 from 8, and prohibiting the city of Chicago from closing and demolishing any of the airport's 4 diagonal runways. The aim is to distribute the noise more evenly. The two bills are aimed at expanding O'Hare flight paths are going next to the Illinois House of Representatives for consideration. If one of the diagonal runways is closed, its flights will be distributed to the other runways, causing more noise for some people. Keeping 10 runways operational at O'Hare would increase maintenance costs. And while all 10 runways would never be used simultaneously, the more complex airfield layout could create safety risks involving more planes taxiing across runways on their way to the gate or other runways. Noise complaints filed online and to a city-operated hot line totalled 39,500 in January, setting a new monthly record. In 2014, for the whole year, noise complaints totalled 268,211, also an all-time high.
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Gatwick distributes 400,000 flyers around west London warning of Heathrow noise (to get backing for Gatwick runway)
As Gatwick has difficulty getting much local support for its runway plans (almost all local councils and local MPs oppose it) this week the airport is distributing 400,000 flyers to homes across west London. Uxbridge and South Ruislip in particular are being targeted, (86,000 leaflets) warning about the increased noise there would be from a Heathrow 3rd runway. Gatwick has focused its attention on negative campaigning about Heathrow, though Heathrow has not - publicly - being doing the equivalent on Gatwick. Gatwick is not revealing the cost of their 400,000 leaflet effort. As the local residents do not have the ability to choose whether a runway is built, the aim is to influence local politicians. Gatwick claims that 683,000 people and 362 schools would be impacted by noise if a 3rd Heathrow runway was built, while only 36,000 people and 15 schools by a Gatwick runway. In the 55 Lden contour. (Clever of them, as the flight paths are not yet know .... nobody knows the numbers). Heathrow and Gatwick are arguing over the figures. Gatwick appears to discount the impact of increased noise from its own planned runway. This has infuriated local residents in the Gatwick area. Gatwick's ploy of leafleting people near Heathrow, who are rightly frightened at the prospect of a 3rd runway - playing on their fears - has further increased local opposition.
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Heathrow’s own “Fly Quiet” league tables show more airlines failing airport’s noise targets
The local Heathrow Villages paper, Colnbrook Views, has looked in detail at the quarterly report Heathrow puts out, showing the number of its planes meet noise performance targets. The quarterly Heathrow "Fly Quiet" league table reports started in Q3 of 2013. They show the top 50 airlines (according to the number of Heathrow flights per year) across six different noise metrics. Where the table shows red dots, they have failed; amber dots, the airlines have met Heathrow’s minimum performance targets and green dots show they have exceeded them,. While Colin Matthews, in May 2013, said Heathrow would - and can - "grow quietly” before the Airport Commission’s recommendation this summer. However, the most recent data (Q4 2014) instead shows that there has been a decline in performance, with the majority of airlines failing on one or more of the criteria. Colnbrook Views found there were 10 red scores and 56 amber scores in Q2 2014. This had risen to 13 red scores and 65 amber scores by Q4 2014. Heathrow chooses in its publicity to focus on the airlines that have improved. Of the 50 largest airlines based at Heathrow, 35 failed to achieve Heathrow’s “minimum” performance levels in Q2 last year, increasing to 39 in Q3 and an embarrassing 41 by Q4.
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A flavour of the anger and the determination of those suffering Gatwick concentrated arrival flight paths
There is a rising level of anger, upset, stress and despair among people living in areas far to the east of Gatwick airport, mainly under newly concentrated landing routes. Areas such as Hever, Penshurst, Chiddingstone and Penshurst are badly affected by plane noise, though they are miles from the airport. As the level of background noise in quiet rural villages is low, the impact of the aircraft noise is far worse than that perceived at equivalent distances from Heathrow, in densely urban areas. Gatwick airport no longer replies to those who complain about its planes, and prefers to focus its efforts on lobbying people around Heathrow. Its ubiquitous adverts rub salt in the wounds, for local people, by making out how few people would be affected by its runway. Politicians, councils, aviation industry take the level of noise that people suffer at Heathrow seriously. But the noise endured by those near Gatwick is not taken as seriously. Below are some of the comments by people who are suffering from the impacts of Gatwick, and getting no satisfaction or understanding from the airport. One comment: "It is not OK for my family to be woken up at 4:30am and it is not OK to be listening to that horrible whining and thundering din late into the night." And "What Gatwick and its planes are doing to people in our area is totally unacceptable ....We will fight this to any extreme."
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Campaigners at London City Airport demand true noise measurement – combining Heathrow + London City flight noise
Campaigners at London City Airport are calling for a change in the way aircraft noise is measured, and more needs to be done to protect people living under noisy flight paths. The group’s chair, John Stewart, says the problem is partly down to a lack of measurement of the cumulative noise produced by flight paths from several airports (Heathrow and London City here) which both affect one area. He believes separate measurements of just each airport’s noise fail to give a true picture of the impact on residents, resulting in official statistics that underestimate aircraft noise levels. Both need to be combined in order to get a figure for the total noise in order to get an accurate assessment of the real noise levels experienced by residents. John said: “In the areas of east and south east London, where people get planes from both London City and Heathrow, noise levels will be a lot higher than official statistics show.” The concerns remain despite mayor of London Boris Johnson’s blocking of London City Airport’s proposed expansion. HACAN East says the Greater London Assembly backed cumulative noise readings, from both airports combined, two years ago, and that the airport should recognise this. It suits the aviation industry to deliberately keep the noise figures separate.
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Boris turns down London City Airport expansion plans on noise grounds
Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, has refused London City Airport's plan to expand on noise grounds. In a letter he has instructed Newham Council, who had approved the application, to refuse it. The Mayor says the application does not "adequately mitigate and manage its adverse noise impacts." Newham's decision was always dependent on the Mayor's approval. London City Airport wanted permission to build new taxiways to permit larger planes to use the airport. It also wanted more car parking spaces. The decision will be a bitter blow to the airport as it will now no longer be able to bring in the larger planes it wanted to serve new destinations. John Stewart, chair of HACAN East, which campaigned against the expansion plans, said "The airport is paying the price for being so cavalier about noise. Quite simply, Boris did not believe its claims that it was dealing adequately with noise. We salute his decision". The decision appears to be final, and it is unclear whether London City Airport can appeal to the Secretary of State. They may do so.