Study offers close look at airport noise

Frustrated neighbors don’t buy the findings

Broward residents complaining about earsplitting airplane traffic are finding little relief in a new airport noise study.

The draft report for Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport shows where noise is reaching unacceptable levels and — according to the report — it’s not in many of the neighborhoods where complaints have been the loudest.

The noise study is the first in 25 years for the airport, providing a fresh look at sound issues generated by the airport’s increased traffic and its new and expanded runway configurations. Residents under the flight paths have been waiting for the study, hoping it could be used to persuade federal aviation officials to make changes that would keep the noise away from their homes.

But the study didn’t live up to their expectations. Critics say it is flawed for two main reasons:

It relies on computer modeling using flight track data and projected sound volumes to determine noise levels rather than actual, monitored sound levels around the airport.

It averages noise levels over an entire year and doesn’t consider seasonal flight patterns that can bring prolonged noise over some neighborhoods for weeks or months at a time.

When the flights are overhead, there’s no getting away from the noise, said Helga Long, of the Royal Palm South neighborhood in Plantation.

“It’s all day long,” Long said. “It starts in the morning before 7 and it can go until midnight.”