| Topic: | 3rd runway noise in Chiswick | |
| Posted by: | Jeff Gear | |
| Date/Time: | 01/02/08 18:48:00 |
| I looked up flight BD134 of Jan 23rd on Webtrack today. This is a flight which has previously attracted comment on this site because it took an unusual short cut to Heathrow over Bedford Park, the Murco Garage, and Chiswick High Road. It was an Airbus A321 and flew directly over my house at 1942ft at 22.52 on Wednesday Jan 23. The noise was ASTONISHING, a mixture of engine and airframe noise I think. It completely drowned the TV sound, and would have curtailed any conversation. Would this aircraft type be landing on a 2200m third runway? The approach path for this would run directly above Chiswick High Road A google turned up a Department for Transport document stating that 2180m is the required runway length for the A321. This is a very common aircraft, and it's an interesting correlation with the current choice of 3rd runway length... I understand that DfT average noise projections indicate that aircraft noise in Chiswick with a third runway would be like today’s noise levels in Battersea Park - but this illustrates the problem with these wretched "average noise" figures. Average noise measurements understate the shattering impact of the noise of actual individual flights. It may be that 54dBA Leq (the DfT forecast average noise level over central Chiswick with a third runway) is similar to the average noise currently experienced in Battersea Park which is overflown half of the time courtesy of runway alternation. The average noise levels being used are misleading, and simply don’t portray the experience of actual noise from aircraft overhead. An A321 at 3,600ft over Battersea Park is nothing like as noisy as the A321 at 2000ft over Chiswick was, and that is what really counts. That is the type of noise that we will suffer. Every 90 seconds, every day. |