FAA finds aircraft noise a worsening problem
WASHINGTON — The first Federal Aviation Administration noise survey in nearly 30 years found more people are bothered by aircraft noise than before, even as planes have gotten quieter.
According to the FAA’s Neighborhood Environmental Survey, nearly two-thirds of people reported being “highly annoyed” by aircraft noise — more than double the 12.4 percent who reported the same level of annoyance during a 1992 review. Those surveyed considered noise from aircraft far more annoying than that from other sources, including cars, trucks and their neighbors.
The agency noted that the findings come as far fewer people live with “significant” exposure to noise from airplanes, the result of quieter aircraft and efforts to reduce populations in areas with excessive aircraft noise. According to the FAA, just over 400,000 people live in such areas, compared with more than 7 million in the 1970s. Advances in engineering have made today’s aircraft far less noisy than their predecessors. But there is significantly more air traffic now.
“The FAA’s Neighborhood Environmental Survey tells us what we already knew loud and clear — our communities are ravaged by aircraft noise,” said Rep. Thomas Suozzi, D-N.Y., a vice chairman of the Quiet Skies Caucus, a group of House lawmakers representing districts where aircraft noise has been a perennial concern.
The survey of more than 10,000 people who live near one of 20 U.S. airports found “a substantial increase in the percentage of people who are highly annoyed by aircraft noise over the entire range of aircraft noise levels considered, including at lower noise levels.”
While nearly two-thirds of those who responded said they were “highly annoyed” by noise at levels the government considers actionable, 42 percent reported being bothered by aviation noise at any level.
The report said the findings mirror other recent reviews that found that aircraft noise “often results in higher levels of annoyance compared to the same level of noise from ground transportation sources.” The findings also raise questions about the tools the FAA has relied on to measure the effect of noise on communities — something researchers acknowledged in the report.
In a letter to FAA Administrator Stephen Dickson earlier this month, members of the Quiet Skies Caucus wrote that FAA measures to gauge the effects of aircraft noise have “outlived their usefulness.”