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Highlights of the International Airport Noise Symposium 2000
By Anne Kohut,
Publisher,
Airport Noise Report
Unique among aviation and environmental conferences, the International Airport
Noise Symposium provides a forum on cutting-edge issues for those who work professionally
in the area of aircraft noise or who have a strong interest in the topic. The
broad range of issues discussed at the symposium reflects the wide range of
expertise of those who attend: local, state, and federal government representatives,
airport and aviation officials, attorneys, acoustical consultants, academic
and scientific researchers, land use planners, experts in sound insulation,
and community activists. The interdisciplinary nature of the field of aircraft
noise and the need for a collegial approach to successfully mitigate noise problems
lead to vibrant debate and discussion among the diverse attendees.
The year 2000 International Airport Noise Symposium, fifteenth in the series,
was held in a landmark year which heralded the beginning of a new chapter in
efforts to reduce aircraft noise impacts. On Jan. 1, 2000, all aircraft operating
in the United States, with minor exceptions, had to meet more stringent Stage
3 federal aircraft-noise certification standards. Thus, the year 2000 provides
a vantage point to look back to the advent of commercial jet aircraft in the
1960s and appreciate the significant 20-30 dB reduction in aircraft noise levels
that improvements in technology achieved and to look forward to the demands
of a new century in which the number of passengers flying is expected to skyrocket,
in which airports must expand to meet growing capacity constraints, and where
there looms the specter of increasing noise impact.
The transition to an all-Stage 3 fleet was a major milestone in aircraft noise
reduction, but it is met with the sobering realization that the new century
will demand even more reduction in the noise that aircraft emit, more innovation
in technology and operational procedures, more attention to land use planning,
and more focus on the development of a federal noise policy to satisfy growing
public demand for a quieter environment. Indeed the recognition that goal posts
are moving was a major theme at the Symposium, voiced in the keynote address
given by David Traynham, the Federal Aviation Administration's Assistant Administrator
for Policy, Planning, and International Aviation, and echoed by other speakers
throughout the three days.
Issues Left Unresolved by ANCA
But to understand how the goal posts related to airport noise issues will move
in the future, one must first look to the past. "What is past is prologue,"
says an epigraph on the National Archives, and that certainly is borne out in
the way passage of the Airport Noise and Capacity Act of 1990 (ANCA) has colored
the noise debate over the past decade, and set the stage for the noise issues
which must be addressed in the post-2000 time frame.
The first two sessions of the 2000 symposium largely addressed the issues left
unresolved by ANCA: the emergence of Stage 2 business and commuter jets as a
more dominant noise source at airports; the problems airports are likely to
face in trying to impose new noise restrictions under the FAA's untested and
largely undefined Part 161 regulations; and whether aircraft hushkitted to meet
Stage 3 noise standards should be phased out early in conjunction with the imposition
of more stringent "Stage 4" noise certification standards being developed by
the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).
While ANCA imposed a phase-out schedule for Stage 2 aircraft weighing over
75,000 lbs., it did not address aircraft weighing less than 75,000 lbs. - the
corporate and regional jets - whose operations are growing. But with the heavy
Stage 2 aircraft gone from the fleet (or hushkitted to meet Stage 3 standards),
these lighter Stage 1 and 2 aircraft are now more noticeable noise emitters
and will be of greater concern to airports because their noise will have more
influence on airport noise contours. Jeff Gilley of the National Business Aircraft
Association told the conference that NBAA is hoping to see a natural progression
by its corporate members to an all-Stage 3 fleet, but several smaller airports
have already targeting Stage 2 business jets for new operational restrictions.
In addition to mandating the phase-out of Stage 2 aircraft, ANCA also imposed
on airports the requirement to conduct rigorous cost/benefit analyses on any
new noise or access restriction they may seek to impose, and to obtain federal
approval of any new restrictions on Stage 3 aircraft operations. So daunting
are these cost/benefit analyses that no airport has completed one for a Stage
3 restriction in the past decade the act has been in effect. But that will change
in the post-2000 time frame, attorney Peter Kirsch predicted, as airports recognize
that national solutions to address aircraft noise, such as the Stage 2 phase-out,
are exhausted, and the ball is back in the airports' court. Kirsch asserted
that the FAA must take a more active role in clarifying its Part 161 regulations,
which are vague and have been left largely uninterpreted by the agency. ANCA
did not require the retirement of Stage 2 aircraft. It only required that they
be brought into compliance with the more stringent Stage 3 noise standards.
This stimulated the growth of the then largely dormant aircraft hushkit industry,
all based in the United States. Fully one-third of the U.S. commercial aircraft
fleet meets Stage 3 noise standards through the use of hush-kits, which are
significantly less expensive than purchasing newly manufactured Stage 3 aircraft.
This flexibility in the U.S. phase-out regulations put the United States on
a collision course with the European Union, which last year passed legislation
barring the entry of additional hushkitted aircraft in EU countries. Attorney
Mark Atwood, who represents the U.S. hushkit company Dugan Air, discussed the
dispute over the hushkit rule, which has brought Europe and the U.S. to the
brink of a trade war, and why the U.S. considers the rule illegal. Steve Alterman,
president of the Airline Cargo Association, told symposium participants that
the U.S. aviation industry is opposed to tying any early phase out of hushkitted
aircraft to a more stringent Stage 4 ICAO noise standard - a stance the EU says
makes it even more difficult to reach consensus in the ICAO process. So a major
new goal post - a more stringent ICAO aircraft noise certification standard,
and its link to a possible early phase-out of hushkitted aircraft - is currently
being debated and should be clarified next year when ICAO considers the issue.
Emerging Issues
The final three sessions of the 2000 International Airport Noise Symposium
looked to the future and addressed emerging issues of importance. Chief among
these were advances in jet engine development, noise abatement flight paths,
how the Executive Order on Environmental Justice will affect airports, and land
use compatibility.
Unprecedented increases in aircraft operations predicted for the 21st century
will result in growing noise contours around airports unless improvements in
aircraft noise reduction technology are made. Ongoing research and development
activity by aircraft manufacturers, engine companies, and the National Aeronautics
and Space Administration (NASA) is aimed at the development of this new technology.
Improvements in the design of aircraft airframes and engines will allow significant
increases in airport capacity without increasing noise impacts on the community,
said Ira Rushwald, manager of Noise Engineering at the Boeing Commercial Airplane
Group. He discussed new larger aircraft that the company is developing which
are significantly quieter than the Boeing 747.
NASA's current noise reduction research program, which ends in 2001, has developed
technology which will allow engines to achieve a 5 dB reduction in noise levels
relative to the 1997 levels, reported William Willshire of NASA's Langley Research
Center. This is only half the 10 dB noise reduction the agency had set as its
goal for the program and indicates how difficult it is to find new ways to further
reduce aircraft noise. Nevertheless, Willshire was optimistic that the 10dB
goal will be met in the future. However, new technology takes time to integrate
into the manufacturing process and into the fleet. The aircraft fleet is not
expected to be comprised of all newly manufactured Stage 4 aircraft until mid-century.
So, while new technology holds promise, the emphasis in the short-term is on
the use of improved noise abatement flight procedures and on better land use
planning to stem the impact of aircraft noise.
Improved navigational technology and flight management systems will soon allow
pilots to follow precise noise abatement flight tracks into and out of airports
to avoid the most noise-sensitive areas. While there is usually little debate
where to funnel aircraft around airports surrounded by agricultural or industrial
corridors, flight tracks are emerging as a daunting technical and political
challenge at airports surrounded by residential areas, particularly growing
metropolitan airports whose traffic must be directed over communities unfamiliar
with the experience of aviation noise. Cyle Cantrell, Program Director for the
M Flight Track Procedures program at Chicago O'Hare, discussed efforts to define
and promote operational procedures and modified flight tracks to reduce the
noise impacts on neighboring communities.
A matter of great concern to airports which may play a significant role in
dictating the location of flight paths and runway development is Executive Order
12898 on Environmental Justice, issued by the Clinton Administration in 1994.
The FAA standard that airports are expected to meet when conducting environmental
justice analyses for airport expansion projects is being clarified in the final
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for a new runway at Boston Logan International
Airport. Here the Environmental Protection Agency's New England Regional Office
has sharply criticized the initial EIS done by the airport. Leaders of minority
communities near Los Angeles International Airport skillfully used the issue
of environmental justice to pressure EPA and FAA into conducting a study to
determine what impact noise, air, and water pollution have on the health of
their constituents.
The final session of the symposium focused on the issue of land-use compatibility
around airports. William Albee of Wyle Laboratories, who formerly served in
the FAA Office of Environment and Energy, asserted that each community must
define it's own noise exposure criteria for compatible land use around airports
and not treat the federal land use guidelines as though they were rigid standards.
Two major communities, Minneapolis and Cleveland, recently took formal steps
to establish DNL 60 as their local threshold for compatible land use, going
beyond the federal guideline of DNL 65 as the threshold of residential compatibility,
he said. Both cities also plan to expand their residential sound insulation
programs out to the DNL 60 contour, he reported, adding that FAA officials have
indicated that they will approve the use of Passenger Facility Charge revenue
to pay for the Cleveland program.
At the end of the symposium, it was evident that goal posts are moving in the
triad of traditional aircraft noise mitigation strategies that have been pursued
over the last 20 years. Termed "the three-legged stool," they are source noise
control, land use planning, and airplane operational changes. Each is considered
essential to dealing with the aircraft noise problem and each is evolving.
New international aircraft noise certification standards are being developed
to reduce aircraft noise at its source; communities and airports are beginning
to move beyond the bright line of the 65 dB DNL noise contour when considering
issues of compatible land use around airports; and advances in technology are
beginning to allow airplanes to more precisely follow noise abatement flight
paths.
The challenge of finding ways to continue making progress in these three areas
will engage participants at the International Airport Noise Symposium for years
to come.
At the end of the symposium, it was evident that the goal posts in aircraft
noise mitigation strategies which have been played to in the last 20 years are
moving. The triad of source noise control, land use planning, and airplane operational
changes, termed "the three-legged stool," has formed the cornerstone of aviation
noise mitigation. New international aircraft noise certification standards are
being developed in an effort to reduce aircraft noise at its source. Communities
and airports are beginning to move beyond the 65 dB DNL noise contour when considering
issues of compatible land use around airports. Advances in technology are beginning
to allow airplanes to follow noise abatement flight paths more precisely. The
challenge of finding new ways to continue making progress in these three areas,
as well as new ones yet unimagined, will engage participants at the International
Airport Noise Symposium for years to come.
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