Major new departures report from CAA
27th July 2018
The Civil Aviation Authority published a major report on 27th July into departures from Heathrow Airport. It was largely done in response to complaints from local people than aircraft have become louder and lower.
Key findings:
- ‘A gradual decrease in average aircraft heights over recent years’ but ‘lower heights have not lead to overall noise increases’ because most planes have become quieter.
- The take-off procedures can vary from airport to airport but the noise on the ground from aircraft departing Heathrow differs little from that at comparable airports
- The rate of climb of the A380s is much the same as at other airports.
- If planes use a steeper departure procedure a). they reduce the noise for people right under the flight path but increase for those to the side but b) they increase the duration of the noise for everybody.
The report is packed with other useful information but note it concentrates on heights and noise. It doesn’t deal in any depth with other causes of noise such as increased concentration or a rise in flight numbers.
Read HACAN’s assessment of the report: http://hacan.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Blog-CAA-Report-1.pdf
Read the summary: https://publicapps.caa.co.uk/docs/33/20180719%20CAP1691a%20Departure%20Noise%20Mitigation%20Summary%20Report.pdf
Full report: https://publicapps.caa.co.uk/docs/33/CAP1691%20Departure%20Noise%20Mitigation%20Main%20Report.pdf