The touchy subject of airplane noise

[catling42.livejournal.com]

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.

Comments

I know, I know!

[emcicle.livejournal.com]

I got this in part of an email this morning from Craig Kelley, a city council rep in Cambridge:

"First- all those airplanes going overhead. Per an email I got from someone on North Cambridge Neighbors, Massport is closing multiple runways for maintenance so they are altering the flight paths and sending planes over North Cambridge. It is scheduled to end tomorrow (Sunday) at 2 PM. To see Massport announcements go to http://www.massport.com/environment/envi... and scroll to the bottom of the page and click Launch. On the page with the map click the tab Flight Tracking where you can see announcements and look at the air traffic. The Massport Noise Complaint number is 617-561-3333 if you want to call so they get an idea of how noise is impacting you."

Re: I know, I know!

[catling42.livejournal.com]

Thtank goodness!

There's more to the story

[kent37.livejournal.com]

It has been particularly bad this weekend, but there is a broader issue.

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

[catling42.livejournal.com]

Oh, thanks for this information. I will be writing letters, and have filed complaints.

RE: There's more to the story

[davelew.livejournal.com]

It's not just that Massport measures noise over a broad area, they literally don't measure noise in Somerville or even in Cambridge. They have a noise monitoring station in Everett, and another in Medford (on Magoun Ave, on the other side of I-93 from Somerville, near exit 32 of I-93). Davis Square is far enough from Everett and I-93 that those noise monitoring stations don't accurately reflect the noise here.

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.

[somergirl80.livejournal.com]

Have you tried looking for a new apartment/house in the surrounding areas? I've lived here for over 35 years, grew up here, family grew up here and I've never known anyone to be woken up by the planes. Perhaps living so close to the airport isn't a good fit for you. There a LOT of wonderful neighboring towns that still allow you to live close to everything but just might suit your needs better. Just a thought. That's what I would do.

[boblothrope.livejournal.com]

As others have explained, the navigation system changed in 2013, and the new system means a few people get a lot more noise.

If you exclude all areas that are as close to the airport as Davis Square, there isn't much of the city left.