The plane truth

Runway noise problem should abate after complaints are reviewed

It’s time to stop the unproductive hurling of invective at those who are complaining the loudest about excessive noise from the new Calgary airport runway, noise so deafening, residents can’t hear themselves speak in their own backyards.

The usual riposte begins: “Well, you knew that runway was going to be built when you bought your house in that neighbourhood.” Maybe so, but that doesn’t mean those folks deserve to be condemned to a lifetime of jet noise.

Residents of Rundle, Whitehorn and other areas under the flight path to the new runway are not stuck with the noise in perpetuity. Airport officials are working on the problem, but it will take time. Meanwhile, a few myths need to be dispelled.

One of those myths is that if YYC would just implement the extra noise abatement protocols that Toronto’s Pearson International Airport has in place above the standard protocols that all airports use, the problem would be fixed.

YYC can’t just copy Toronto, though, according to Terry Thompson, director of environment for the Calgary Airport Authority.

For example, Pearson stipulates that arriving airplanes must “maintain a three-degree angle-of-descent glide slope on final approach to the runway,” according to the Toronto airport’s website.

Planes arriving in Calgary must do the same, but at a different altitude, according to Thompson. Planes must “intercept the glide slope, which is that three-degree slope on the localizer, the extended centre line of the runway, at 4,800 feet or above. That 4,800 feet was developed because of our crosswind runway operations. We’ll look at maybe raising that a little higher, which would drive aircraft back a little bit,” he says.

Another difference is that Pearson has parallel runways, while Calgary’s cross each other.

“Departing aircraft have to have the freedom to go above arriving aircraft ... Now that we have parallel operations, we’re looking to raising (the altitude),” Thompson says.

Some noise abatement procedures are the same at both airports. Pearson requires departing planes to “throttle back from takeoff power to less noisy climb power shortly after takeoff, and (to) follow specified headings or ground tracks to 3,000 feet above airport elevation prior to conducting turns en-route to their destination,” its website says.

Calgary has a similar protocol. “We don’t allow turns on departures until at least 3,000 feet above the ground,” Thompson says. “Turning an aircraft presents drag and drag requires more thrust.” That thrust causes more noise; thus the 3,000-feet rule for turns.

Another myth is that planes are supposed to come in following Deerfoot Trail and not over residential areas.

“People’s perception is that we always used to operate over Deerfoot Trail. We do cut across a particular section of Deerfoot, but not a lot of it. You may perceive us as going over it, but the extended centre line of the existing old runway goes through Maryland Heights, Vista Heights ... (and cuts) a corner of Bridgeland,” said Thompson.

The extended centre line of the new runway, however, means communities like Rundle and Whitehorn, which never had a problem with airplane noise, are now affected.

“The preferential runway from a community perspective is departing to the north. There are very few communities north of our facility,” Thompson says, adding that planes arrive from the south. “If the wind is blowing from the north, we depart into the wind. If the wind is from the south, we have to depart over Calgary.”

According to a Calgary Airport Authority document that contains a chapter on noise, “the weather affects how YYC operates, e.g., the direction in which aircraft land and take off and the performance of aircraft, especially their climb rates. This is particularly important for departures, as the climb rate affects the distance the sound travels through the air. The meteorological conditions also affect the way in which sound propagates between aircraft and the ground.”

An airport community consultative committee, including representatives from the airlines, NAVCanada, Transport Canada and community association officials from affected neighbourhoods in Calgary and Airdrie, is working on the noise program, and will look at “new noise abatement or operating procedures,” Thompson says. “There are some things the regulator, Transport Canada, can do, some things NAVCanada can do, as they manage the airspace into and out of YYC, some things operationally they can do, some things we can do as the airport operator.”

So, shhh. Could we keep the noisy complaints about how people should have known before they bought their houses, down to a dull roar? A little quiet is in order while airport officials work on solutions to the problem.

So, shhh. Could we keep the noisy complaints about how people should have known before they bought their houses, down to a dull roar?