The touchy subject of airplane noise
Apr. 25th, 2015 11:15 am![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png)
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Has anyone else noticed the steep jump in airplane noise recently? I was woken at 6:30am by low flying planes today and I feel like its the last straw after weeks of not getting a full night due to the air traffic noise. Is there anything we can do? Anyone have any great tricks to sleep through it? I'm in Ball Square, if that matters.
There's more to the story
Date: 2015-04-25 08:23 pm (UTC)The NextGen flight navigation system introduced in 2013, and the flight plan known as 33L RNAV, have dramatically changed the flight paths of planes coming off of runway 33L at Logan Airport. Flight paths used to be spread over a wide area. Now they are tightly controlled so every plane takes the same route. The tighter control also allows for closer spacing of the planes. For those of us who live under that route, this means there is a plane overhead every few minutes for as long as the runway is operational. This has a significant impact on all the unlucky ones whenever runway 33L is in use.
My understanding is that the FAA measurements for noise impact look at average impacts over a broad area and thus see no change with the new flight plans. There is more information available at http://www.BostonWestFairSkies.org
This is a national issue, as flight plans have changed at airports around the U.S. I encourage you to write to local, state and national representatives letting them know that it is an issue that affects you. It also does help if lots of people call the MassPort complaint line; it makes it harder for them to say that just a few people are affected.
Re: There's more to the story
Date: 2015-04-25 11:20 pm (UTC)RE: There's more to the story
Date: 2015-04-27 01:52 am (UTC)Based on my measurements of the airplane noise from my porch, I believe that many homes in the Ball Square area would be eligible for free soundproofing from Massport, if Massport honestly and accurately measured the noise from planes taking off from runway 33.