Noise Pollution 
 The initial 20 FedEx
flights will increase to at least 60. These flights will operate at night:
incoming cargo jets will arrive within an hour’s window of time sometime between
Midnight and 2:00AM; then the 60 cargo jets will all depart sometime between 3:00AM and
5:00AM. Each flight includes landing, taxiing, and takeoff. Because several
flights may arrive at the same time, some may be required to circle overhead in holding
patterns. According to 1998 FAA hourly operations data for PTIA, currently there are
less than 4 flights operating between Midnight and 5:00AM, and, contrary to what Dan Lynch
says, there are only 9.5 flights total between 11:00PM and 6:00AM.
At
least 120 trucks will be used to service the cargo hub, increasing air pollution
and highway congestion. In addition, FedEx anticipates "over 200 in-bound and
out-bound truck operations" on the weekend.
The noise from the FedEx
flights will negatively impact people living many miles away from the airport, as it has
in Memphis and Indianapolis where FedEx hubs are located. In Memphis 12,000 property
owners living 6 to 8 miles from the airport recently won a lawsuit for noise
compensation. Another 1400 homes were bought in Memphis. In Indianapolis 958
homes are being purchased, most within 4 miles of the airport. In Louisville, KY,
where a UPS air cargo hub is located, 4000 homes are being bought and a whole town in the
flight path is being moved. (See www.npr.org; type in the keyword “Minor Lane
Heights” and select the November 5, 1998, Morning Edition show. Requires RealPlayer
to hear broadcast.)
In Greensboro, the tax
value of the 4,019 homes in the flight path of just one runway (the proposed third
runway) is over $634 Million. The tax value of the 4,884 homes in the flight
path of both the proposed third runway and the existing main runway is $760 Million.
The addition to FedEx
planes of “hush kits,” mufflers that help reduce noise on aircraft with older
engines, will not solve the noise problem. Hush-kitted aircraft still produce much
more noise than aircraft equipped with modern engines. According to the
Charlotte-Douglas International Airport draft Environmental Impact Study, the Sound
Exposure Level (SEL or What You Actually Hear) for a single HUSH-KITTED 727 jet departure
is 95dB up to 4 miles away. At night, this sound is roughly equivalent to the sound
of thunder. The FAA recognizes that interference with sleep begins to occur above 40
dB and interference with speech above 45 dB. Various studies have found that
nocturnal aircraft noise has a negative impact on people’s physical and psychological
well-being. (FedEx is now claiming--6/18/99 Bus. Jrnl.- that it will have phased out most
of its 727s by 2005 and replaced them with Airbuses, DC-10s, and MD-11s. Citizens
Aviation Watch reports that so-called “quieter planes” may generate less
high-pitched frequencies, which is the kind of noise the FAA concentrates on, but they
generate MORE lower pitched frequencies—the rumbles that cause your house to shake
and the windows to rattle. “Some of these new planes make MORE noise than the
old ones as the flow of air over these huge aircraft is noisier than their idling
engines.”
To figure noise cones, the
FAA averages out the various SELs for a whole 24 hour day (Ldni: Day-Night Average Sound
Level): this means that periods of quiet are averaged in with noise from flight
operations. (A “flight” consists of two “flight
operations”: a landing and a departure. PTIA currently has only 57
flights per day of the Air Carrier (heavy aircraft) variety.) This AVERAGE is then
further diluted by averaging out the flights per each end of the runways over a
YEAR’s time (Ldn) --i.e., the number of flights per year per each end of each
runway. PTIA claims that 95% of FedEx departures will be to the Southwest (i.e., 347
days) and 5% (18 days) to the Northeast. If you are living at the end of the runway
that FedEx flights are taking off over, you will be in a 75 dB Ldni contour 4 miles from
the end of the runway for that day: the 65 dB contour will extend up to 12 miles.
(Four miles NE of the existing and proposed runways goes to about where Horsepen Creek
Road meets Battleground. Four miles SW of the runways goes to about where Southwest
High School is located). If you are on the other end of the runway when a jet is
taking off, you will hear the jets taxiing and revving up their engines. Within a 75
dB Ldn, houses are condemned; at 65 dB Ldn the FAA recognizes that some noise compensation
is due. BUT this averaging for a whole year, the typical method used in airport
noise measurement, hides the problem. You WILL hear the noise SEVERAL MILES AWAY.
According to the 1996-97
edition of the National Business Aircraft Association (NBAA) Airport Noise Summary, 622
airports in the U.S. have some sort of restriction on aircraft noise as a requirement for
flight operations. These constraints include nighttime curfews, specified decibel
levels for airport access, and recommended avoidance of areas with schools or
residences. Many other cities around the world either ban or severely restrict night
flights. The European Parliament passed a resolution to ban all night flights in all
its member countries to protect local residents from aircraft noise. In civilized
societies, a balance is sought between growth and quality of life.
The RDU Airport has a
3-mile nonresidential area at each end of its runways. Even so, the residents there
still had a problem with aircraft noise: In 1992, the Raleigh airport settled
lawsuits with 125 Wake County property owners bothered by plane noise even though their
land lay far outside the 65-decibel zone. (The proposed third runway in Greensboro
would end just ½ mile from residential areas. It would also mean cutting down all
those trees that now provide a natural noise barrier from the present runways).
You can file a noise complaint with the PTI airport
by calling 665-5600. Details should include your address and the
date and time of each occurrence. You may file several complaints in a single
call. Call in complaints as promptly as possible (within 24 hours). |