Noise News
Below are links to stories about noise in relation to airports and aviation.
Plan to redirect Stansted Airport departures to reduce Heathrow congestion
Air traffic control service NATS proposes to redirect the majority of Stansted departures from an established southerly route, to an existing route to the east of the airport. “At the moment, departures from Stansted heading towards the South East are kept lower for longer when compared to the route heading east because of Heathrow arrivals." The changes would only affect daytime departures. This is to reduce congestion above Heathrow. Arrivals are not affected. NATS has started a 12-week consultation on the proposals. Martin Peachey, noise advisor for Stop Stansted Expansion campaign group said: “We basically support the proposal because NATS say it should reduce the amount of people flown in the day and reduce CO2 emissions. It would remove day time departures for a large area to the south but it would double the amount of flights to the east so that would need to be carefully studied. .... There will be winners and losers.” The changes are part of the NATS’ London Airspace Management Programme (LAMP).
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House of Commons briefing note on aviation noise – recognises it as a source of “constant annoyance” for many
The House of Commons Library has put out a "Standard Note" on "Aviation: Noise pollution." This recognises that "aviation noise is a source of constant annoyance to those who live under airport flight paths and for those subject to lower levels of disturbance caused by low flying smaller aircraft and helicopters. This form of noise pollution is explicitly excluded from general noise nuisance legislation." It sets out the general scale of the problem and how this is measured and mapped. It goes on to say: "Arguably the easiest way to reduce noise impacts from aviation is to close or at least restrict the growth of airports." It recognises that there is a fundamental conflict between increasing aviation capacity and limiting or reducing noise impacts; greater numbers of flights outweighs slight improvements in noise per plane. While Sustainable Aviation (funded by the aviation industry) hopes aviation can grow with no increase in noise (!?) the note says: "the Aviation Environment Federation, an NGO supported by environmental groups, argued that expansion schemes should meet stringent noise criteria in order to be approved."
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Residents in areas near Luton urged to record the aircraft noise
Residents in the Luton area have held a meeting to voice their concerns following the decision in early May by the Government (Eric Pickles) to not call in the planning application for the expansion for Luton Airport. The meeting, chaired by Luton and District Association for the Control of Aircraft Noise (LADACAN), was held in Breachwood Green and was attended by about 50 people. They were encouraged to record aircraft noise, to keep details of the current situation. The expansion application would see passenger capacity rise from 12.5 million to 18 million a year by 2026. That decision has been widely criticised by local people,and by their MPs who realise it will adversely affect local quality of life for thousands. It means the expansion can now be granted by Luton Borough Council – which also owns the airport. There is very real and widespread concern about the number of night flights, noise both of departures and arrivals, road congestion, and air quality - as well as climate change implications.
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GACC calls on all councils around Gatwick to hold public meetings on flight path plans
Gatwick airport is consulting on future changes to flight paths. The consultation is long, complicated and almost incomprehensible to the average lay person. It is very hard indeed for those to be over flown, with no experience of aircraft noise, to understand. The proposals could have a serious impact on many towns and villages around the airport, and potentially affect an area from Guildford to Tunbridge Wells and from Petworth to Sevenoaks. Now GACC has called on all parish councils and town councils around Gatwick airport to hold public meetings to enable residents to understand and discuss the new flight paths proposed by the airport. If the parish or town is not affected by the new flight paths, then GACC suggest that a meeting should be held to discuss the proposals for a new runway. John Byng, Vice chairman of GACC, said: ‘Many people are telling us that the flight path document is difficult to understand. The proposals affect each area differently, so we believe that local meetings are the best answer.’ GACC will be asking for a simpler version of the consultation to be sent to all those under the new flight path, and for maps showing the full length of the new flight paths, not merely below 4,000 feet.
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Mayor of London figures refute Heathrow claims of less aircraft noise with a 3rd runway
Figures published by the London Mayor “blow out of the water” Heathrow’s claim that overall noise levels would fall if a 3rd runway was built, Heathrow campaigners said. The figures, part of Boris Johnson’s report on the Estuary Airport submitted to the Airport’s Commission last week, showed Heathrow’s claims assumed the new runway would be operating at only one-third capacity. They also argued that Heathrow was too optimistic about the introduction of quieter aircraft. The Mayor’s figures, based on a study he commissioned from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), showed if a 3rd runway was built more than 1m people would be impacted by noise, up from 725,000 today. (55 Lden). While Heathrow is trying to claim 50% more planes will mean less noise, in reality the noise will rise. Heathrow still has not found a way to deal with the politically toxic problem of noise. A 3rd runway would mean people would be disturbed in new areas of London and the south-east. Areas from Kensington to Deptford would be within the noise contour.
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Residents arguing Chicago O’Hare noise has hurt property value win assessment appeal on local property tax
New flight paths begun in autumn 2013 to reduce airport delays and increase capacity, have generated record numbers of complaints about aircraft noise around O'Hare. Now several home owners have managed to get the amount they pay in local property taxes cut, because the value of their homes has been reduced - because of the flight path overhead. They have got reductions of around 8 - 12% depending on their location. The cuts in their tax bills are small, in relation to the amount lost in the fall of their property's value. But if the same cuts in tax were awarded to thousands of others, a dent would be felt in the amount of money being raised by the county authorities. A local politician, and academic, wondered whether this would require the taxes of others - not under flight paths - to rise, in order to make up the shortfall. The homeowners who sought the tax reductions are members of the "Fair Allocation in Runways" coalition, which advocates a more equitable distribution of runway use, to share out the noise burden. FAIR did not organize the property tax appeal effort, but they hope it will finally persuade local Mayor Rahm Emanuel to meet the group to discuss the problems. Studies are being done on past data of O'Hare's noise contour maps, house prices, (sale price and listed price) and time on the market before sale, in noise impacted versus non-impacted areas.
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New noise report from CAA deemed to be ‘disappointing’ by HACAN
The CAA's new report, Managing Aviation Noise, suggests how the aviation industry can best manage aircraft noise, in order to reduce and defuse opposition. The CAA appreciates that noise is a very real issue, and that there has been very little improvement in the noise climate around airports since 2000. Speaking on behalf of HACAN, John Stewart welcomed the recognition of this fact, which reflects the experience of residents. By contrast, the aviation industry likes to give the impression that planes are getting very much quieter,and the noise problem is steadily improving. HACAN regards the CAA report overall as ‘disappointing’ and though it contains useful ideas on how to reduce the impact of aircraft noise on residents, it says very little about how the actual number of planes flying over communities can be cut - which is the big issue for local residents. The CAA report recognises that the noise problem has to be dealt with better than it is now, but its focus is on how new capacity can be developed and operated to minimise noise impacts and maximise community benefits, rather than whether the capacity - primarily a new south east runway - should be built.
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CAA urges UK aviation to improve noise performance and engage communities better, so it can continue to grow
The CAA have produced a new report about aircraft noise in the context of airport expansion. They realise that airports and airlines should do all they can to reduce noise. Some of their recommendations are that when looking to expand, airports should do more to ensure local residents see benefits from additional capacity – whether through funding community schemes, direct payments, or tax breaks. Also that airports seeking expansion should significantly increase spending on noise. mitigation schemes to get closer to international competitors – including full insulation for those most affected. Airlines should focus on noise performance when purchasing new aircraft, and airports should structure their landing charges to incentivise airlines to operate so called "cleaner" (lower carbon emissions?), and less noisy flights. The CAA also propose creating a new Airport Community Engagement Forum, bringing together local residents, the aviation industry, policy makers and planners focussed on how (not whether) new airport capacity can be developed and operated with least annoyance, or complaint, from those over flown.
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Chicago O’Hare airport new runway & flightpaths creating huge opposition by those now over-flown
Chicago O'Hare airport currently has many runways but not all can be used simultaneously. The airport has been building more, reducing the lengths of others, to get three parallel runways can be used together. There has been a lot of controversy about the plans over many years, with compulsory purchase of land, from residents who did not want to move. There is now huge protest against the noise. A group representing city and suburban home-owners, the Fair Allocation in Runways Coalition (FAiR), is asking the Chicago Aviation Commissioner to resign or for the Mayor to fire her. FAiR say there is "mounting frustration over the lack of response from the Mayor on possible remedies concerning "the ceaseless airplane noise'' since air-traffic patterns were changed last autumn.. The Aviation Commissioner has refused to consider altering the use of runways at night to spread out jet noise instead of concentrating it over one or two air corridors. FAiR says she has made up her mind that there will be no change at O'Hare no matter how many citizens demand change, no matter what solutions are proposed and no matter how devastating the impact of her decisions on families, children and seniors, and even entire neighbourhoods.
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Gatwick flight path changes revealed as 12 week airspace consultation launched
Gatwick airport has started another consultation on changes to its flight paths. This will last for 12 weeks and end on 15th August. The earlier "consultation" done by Gatwick, that ended on 15th May did not include any flight path details, which many who attended the exhibitions found frustrating. Gatwick's consultation is complex and not intended to be easy for a non-expert to understand. It is rich in acronyms and jargon, that is not properly explained. One could conjecture that making the consultation so hard to understand is deliberate. At its heart the consultation is about Gatwick managing to get more planes using its current flight paths, with changes to get planes taking off separating earlier, so more planes can use the runway with shorter intervals between them. There remains the issue of whether the noise should be concentrated down narrow routes, or dispersed in "swathes" of several kilometres. The Noise Preferential Routes, for planes below 3,000 feet or 4,000 feet, are meant to be routes where the least noise nuisance is caused. However, planes above 4,000 feet are still a real noise irritation. Gatwick's proposals for more planes on more routes will mean many more people being exposed to a lot more plane noise, either way.