Aircraft noise in Calwell area

harvyk1 absolutely right that cloudy days increase noise due to sound reflection from the clouds. All sorts of things like humidty, temperature inversions etc can dramatically increase the loudness of aircraft noise. Studies show they can add up 20dB, which is perceived as the noise being 4x louder. Google “Meteorological effects on sound propagation” for all sorts of fun :]

Of course try explaining any of this to ASA or the airport, and you will be quickly dismissed. One day I am going to take some time to visit a few suburbs with a hand held dB meter, and prove that the airports supposed “max aircraft noise” maps are laughably inaccurate.

Deano, you heard aircraft at cruise alt? Me thinks it’s something else.

Given that cruise altitute is between 10 to 12 km high, aircraft noise doesn’t normally travel that far, and certainly not at levels which would cause annoyance.

The one exception is if a plane is flying at supersonic speeds (sonic booms travel a very long way), but your unlikely to find too many supersonic aircraft flying between Mel \ Syd.

Sepi, it’s unlikely that planes would fly lower due to cloud. For the most part the way a plane takes off is governed by the aircrafts weight (this also governs the speed, other traffic in the area and a/c type. My very uneducated guess is that the sound is bouncing off the cloud which would mean a larger proportion of the noise is travelling back to the ground (probably defused out which would mean the noise would travel further), as apose to up into the sky.

As for when aircraft are landing, there is very well defined angles and altitudes which aircraft will use to approach an airport from. I highly doubt that the angles would change due to cloud as it’s designed to bring the aircraft in at an angle which avoids buildings and other obstacles, and yet provides for a smooth touchdown.

I live in Calwell and notice occasional bouts of loud aircraft noise and quite a few helicopters of late. I have lived in the inner west of Sydney and aircraft noise here is not a patch on there – if it’s going that way, then life will be very unpleasant.

Talking of noise though – what I would most like to resolve is the apparent right that the Tuggeranong Homestead on Johnson Drive has to host music festivals and other events at will and at a level of noise that is rather annoying when you live close by.

Growling Ferret said :

I would suggest moving to a farm in the middle of nowhere. It might be quiet enough for you (but stay away from those noisy planes at Wagga and Temora)

I used to have a property out near Windellama, out back of Tarago – as good as the middle of nowhere. I had more aircraft noise out there than I’ve ever experienced in Canberra. It was under the Melbourne/Sydney flight path and even though they were at 40,000ft, the aircraft noise was very noticeable as there was no background noise to mask it. And because they were so high, they took forever to pass overhead so the duration of the noise was very long.

I think it was summed up best by Stephen Byron himself in an ABC Radio interview when he said that people can be really upset by aircraft noise – that it “makes their lives a misery.”

Al, most helpful information, thank you.

Different people have different perceptions of noise as well. Aircraft noise really gets on my nerves where I am, but my wife barely notices it.

Get over it….I am constantly bombarded with the noise of many cockatoos and correllas…aircraft noise is far more subtle

Tenpro

Day to day noise from normal city traffic – both car and plane – obvously affects you.

I would suggest moving to a farm in the middle of nowhere. It might be quiet enough for you (but stay away from those noisy planes at Wagga and Temora)

Every couple of months I sit through a forum at the airport where ASA staff recount how few aircraft noise complaints they receive, and poo-pooh the complaints received from one or two regular individuals.

The only way there will ever be respect for people making complaints about aircraft noise is if more people are making them, and the complaints stack up. And always tick the box requesting a response.

Complaints are quick to lodge on this ASA webpage: http://www.airservicesaustralia.com/ncm/

To add validity to your complaint, first check around you and on the weather radar website to see whether there are any storm cells that could be causing temporary variation to the flight paths. That is something ASA will often come back with, and it helps if you can state up front in your complaint that you checked these variables before lodging your complaint.

The actual flight tracks on Webtrak (link above) are also worth checking to see if there’s was some conflict with other flights that might have caused it. Note that they don’t appear until about 20 minutes after the flight, and VIP/military flights don’t show at all.