To Matt Thorp,
Chair, Aircraft Noise Committee
Palisades Citizens Association
Report on June 20 Meeting on Airplane Noise
By John W. Finney, Chair ANC3D
The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA), joined by the
Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (MWCOG), sponsored a meeting
Thursday evening at Sibley Hospital, to get public suggestions on a study it
is sponsoring on “Noise Compatibility” on flights at National Airport. Noise
Compatibility is a euphemistic way of saying airplane noise and its impact
on our residential neighborhoods. But then the evening was rife with
euphemisms, jargon and acronyms. Following are personal some conclusions and
observations I reached through the acronymic static of the three-house
meeting, attended at the outset by about 100 persons..
Curfew –The widespread notion that there is a curfew between 10pm and
7am on arrivals and departures from National that is now being violated by
the airlines is a misconception, an illusion, a myth, to listen to the
officials. There never was a curfew. What happened was that the FAA or
National Airport some years ago set permissible noise standards for
nighttime operations at National between 10p and 7a. Initially no commercial
plane, such as the noisy 727 or the DC9, could meet the standards, so in
effect a curfew prevailed on landings and takeoffs between 10p and 7a.. But
then along came quieter planes, such as the 757. They could meet the noise
standards, so they are free to land or take-off any time of day or night.
Economic factors now dictate when the planes land or takeoff. If the
airlines find passengers who want to land around midnight, then they will
schedule midnight-express flights, and if there are weather delays, they may
land at 2a.. Or if they can find passengers wanting to take off before 7a,
then early morning departures will be scheduled. Left unclear was whether
airlines may park planes over night at National and then schedule early
morning departures so the planes can begin their routes at other cities.
Compliance – Compliance with the noise restrictions at National is
voluntary. There is no enforcement by National Airport or the FAA.
Compliance is at the discretion of the pilots and the airlines on the
premise that they must chose what is safe. That becomes important, as we
shall see, on the flight paths chosen by the pilots to land at National.
Flight Paths – There are two flight paths for airplanes landing at
National from the north. One, which in principle is to be followed when the
weather is clear, is to fly over the Potomac until about the 14th
Street bridge and then make a right turn to line up with the runway. That is
the noise abatement path. The other foul-weather approach is the instrument
landing path that has the pilot fly in path that goes over the intersection
of MacArthur and Loughboro, in a direct line over the houses in
Palisades/Kent until the Georgetown Reservoir and then a left turn toward
the airport. As Palisades’ residents complained at the meeting, many times
when the weather seems fair and the visibility good, pilots by day or night
choose to take the instrument landing path Why should that be? The answer
goes back to the discretion given to the pilot to decide what he (or she
now) thinks is safe. For example, officials suggested, it may be the pilot
is inexperienced at landing at National and decides to follow the
instrument-landing approach. Perhaps so, but one suspects there is another
reason. It is work to bank the aircraft to follow the curves of the river
and it is much easier to let the plane automatically follow the radio
signals of the instrument landing system until the final seconds before
landing on the runway. I will always recall the incident when I chastised a
pilot for flying over my house at Watson and MacArthur. “Sir,” he growled
back, “this goddamn airport is difficult and dangerous to land at. They
ought to pave it over and make it into a parking lot.”
Noise Levels – With the introduction ofd quieter planes, officials
maintained that the noise from airplanes flying in and out of National has
decreased significantly. In 1989, they said, the noise level was at 75
decibels; it is now running between 65 and 70 decibels. It is at this point
that the discussion gets involved in how and where noise levels are measured
and what noise level is acceptable. The benchmark used by FAA is 65
decibels. It is at that level that a significant percentage of persons finds
the noise level very annoying. On the decibel scale, the increase in noise
levels, if you remember your high school math, is not linear but
logarithmic. Thus, to go from 65 to 70 decibels is to double the noise
level. Airport authorities measure noise levels by taking an average of
noise levels over 24-hour period, which, of course includes periods when
airplanes are not flying, but with greater weight given to the noise made in
nighttime flights. The periodic objection raised by citizens at the meeting
is that we on the ground do not hear averages but the noise of individual
flights and that the averages are a way of concealing noise levels. It is a
debate beyond my ken. There also is the question of whether in drawing up
the averages, officials have a full reading of airplane noises. It came out
during the hearing that at one point six of the 20 noise monitoring stations
(one is located at Galena and Potomac) were out of operation.
Noise Complaints – The noise levels may have gone down, but there
were the familiar litany of complaints, particularly about late-night and
early-morning flights from residents of the Palisades, Montgomery County,
Arlington County, Fairfax County, all of which were represented at the
meeting. There were stories told of infants being awakened in the early
morning hours, of sleep interrupted for adults, of planes flying to low that
their lights glared through bedroom windows, of the difficulty of talking on
the phone or holding a conversation in the backyard patio with the planes
flying overhead. All that can be said is that the officials at the meeting
seemed to be taking notes on each complaint
There also was a new noise complaint, at least
one I have not heard before, from Elizabeth Ratigan, who lives near the
Georgetown Reservoir. She reported that planes on the instrument landing
approach lower their landing gear when they pass over the reservoir. To
offset the drag of the wheels, pilots rev up the engines, causing a sound
blast that assault the ears of all those below.
There were complaints that noise levels
seemed to increase after 9/11 and particularly in December, when a new
regional system for controlling the air space for National, Dulles, BWI and
Andrews went into operation. Several citizens from both Maryland and
Virginia complained that airplanes were taking shortcuts before reaching the
designated turning point of the American Legion Bridge. Officials
acknowledged that noise level may have increased in recent months and that
airplanes were taking short cuts and said that was something they planned to
study.
Air Pollution – Some citizens, including myself, suggested that in
addition to noise pollution, we had to consider air pollution from the
exhaust of airplanes, which contribute a significant portion of the air
pollution plaguing the Washington metropolitan region. The irony was noted
that at a time when the Washington area is struggling to meet the air
quality standards set by the federal government, Congress is considering
addiing 20 new flights in and out of National, including 12 that would not
be bound by the 1250-mile perimeter for non-stop flights.
Study –The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority in conjunction
with the Council of governments has commissioned a study by the consulting
firm of Ricondo and Associates to forecast future noise levels at National
and come up with proposals to abate the noise impact on neighborhoods and if
you can’t abate it, to mitigate it. (I love the way the word ‘mitigate’ has
crept into our everyday vocabulary.) The basic model for the study is a
noise contour for 65 decibels that reaches only to about Roosevelt Bridge.
When that contour was flashed upon the powerpoint screen, there were
derisive hoots from some residents of the Palisades. Ricondo representatives
quickly gave assurances that they would conduct noise studies in
neighborhoods beyond their 65 decibel contour.
The purpose of the meeting, which recalled the the New England town meetings
of my youth, was to elicit concerns and suggestions from residents about the
noise of airplanes approaching and leaving National airport. In that
respect, I think the meeting was successful. But the study would welcome
additional observations. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to George
Nichols of the Council of Governments staff at
gnichols@mwcog.org
or Neal Phillips of the airport authority staff at
neal.phillips@mwaa.com. |
