Noise Relief: major new report from HACAN

HACAN released a report challenging the aviation industry to take action to improve the noise climate for local communities. Noise Relief outlines practical measures which could be taken to achieve this.

John Stewart, chair of HACAN and co-author of the report, said, “Heathrow is drawing up plans for the biggest shake up of its flight paths since the airport opened in 1946. HACAN welcomes many of these plans, particularly those which will bring some respite each day to the many areas which are currently flown over all day long.   But these new flight paths will not be in place for several years yet. Our report suggests measures which can be taken in the interim.”

The report advocates four measures be taken to assist residents:

  • Stagger the point at which planes join their final approach path: at present 95% of planes now join within a narrow 4.8 nautical mile band;
  • Increase variation in departure routes: over the last ten years or so aircraft taking off from Heathrow have increasingly been concentrated along narrow flight paths;
  • Promote fairer night flight arrival distribution: night flights appear to vary their routes less than they did in the past;
  • Reduce simultaneous overflight by both Heathrow and London City arrivals:   there are days when parts of SE London are overflown by both Heathrow and London City aircraft, giving them at times over 50 planes an hour.

HACAN will now be lobby the industry for action on these measures

To read the full report: http://hacan.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/NoiseRelief.pdf