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The plane truth: Roslindale and surrounding neighborhoods overwhelmed with jets
By adamg on Thu, 09/21/2017 - 10:08pm
Wright points to the narrow flight path from Logan to Forest Hills; the blue shows the paths planes used to take.
Modern technology and a 1990s court decision have created a narrow flight corridor off a Logan runway that can mean hour after hour of planes roaring over Roxbury, Jamaica Plain, Roslindale and West Roxbury, from late at night to early in the morning, driving residents nuts.
Some 50 residents, mainly from Roslindale, gathered tonight to launch Boston South Fair Skies to try to figure out how to unburden the neighborhoods under the takeoff path from Logan's Runway 27.
Among those attending: City Council President and Roslindale resident Michelle Wu, who knows first hand of the effects of planes every minute for hours at a time: Her son Cass, born in July, tends to wake up early for his first feeding of the day. If the planes are rattling overhead, they keep him up - and so keep her and her husband up as well.
Alan Wright, who has long represented Roslindale on committees to advise Massport on airport issues, said the main problem is a new technology, based on GPS, that lets the FAA limit planes to a very narrow corridor from the runway after they take off and curve around the towers of downtown: Over the South End and Roxbury to a point above Forest Hills Cemetery, where they then diverge to head to their destinations.
Until 2015 or so, when the new system went into effect, pilots did not stay in one narrow lane like that, effectively spreading out the noise and keeping any one area from getting bombarded with an endless parade of jet noise, he said.
A 1996 court decision further limited where planes could fly, essentially creating a "happy valley of peace and quiet" for Brookline and Newton, but meaning more planes over Boston neighborhoods, he said.
What makes the problem worse, he said is that the FAA has apparently abandoned a promise not to operate the runway "back to back" - both late at night and then early the following morning. Just this past Sunday night, he said, he tried to get to sleep around 11:30 p.m. to the sound of constant planes overhead, only to be awoken shortly after 5 a.m. by more planes.
He added that Hyde Park and Milton have the same issue but in reverse - they get endless waves of planes descending for a landing at Logan.
"This is a quality of life issue, and I would argue this is a social justice issue," City Councilor Tim McCarthy of Hyde Park, who has been fighting a so far futile battle over the planes for more than two years now.
Residents agreed to begin organizing to fight for a more equitable distribution of planes across the area - possibly even going so far as to file a lawsuit over the issue.
Wright asked residents to call Massport's noise complaint liine (617-561-3333) or file complaints online. He noted that Milton and towns such as Watertown and Belmont, which have been organizing against excessive jet noise for years, are filing far more complaints than Roslindale and West Roxbury.
Longer term, residents and local and federal elected officials need to begin working towards making the effects on residents under flight paths as important as the needs of airlines. The state legislature needs to "reign in" Massport and get it to take noise more seriously. One example, he said: Airlines that fly Airbus A320 planes could make them quieter by installing small plastic devices that would end a distinctive whistling sound, but refuse to do so and will continue to refuse to do so until somebody like Massport demands they install them as a condition of landing here.
McCarthy and Wu both said they expect to receive pushback from Massport along the lines of questioning why they want to ruin the Boston economy. "We're talking about people's lives, and people's health," Wu said. The two added they are not seeking to reduce the number of flights to or from Logan, but to reduce the impact on specific neighborhoods.
Neighborhoods:
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Comments
Hopefully maps like that will
Hopefully maps like that will educate people who don't know what they are talking about. People under that route are getting screwed while others aren't affected at all.
Map
Anyone have a link directly to that map?
Looks like this one
This has the before and after, the one in the image looks like the after.
http://www.watertownmanews.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Screen-Shot-20...
Different map
The map linked here doesn't show any planes flying over Roslindale.
It's from the people complaining about runway 33L making noise over Belmont.
You are right, though I
You are right, though I appreciate it because its not just Belmont, but also Brighton, and I was curious why we see so many planes at the park.
Wright has it wrong
Blaming other communities isn't going to help. "Happy valley of peace and quiet" for Newton? Guess again, and look no further than the map posted by @tachometer of runway 33L.
Looking at both maps I see one thing
The people of Brookline never hear aircraft overhead.
I mean, I can kind see how things work themselves out just looking at the map with the story, but when you see the arc around Brookline on the linked map, then go back and see the slight angle to the left in the photographed map, you get the idea that Brookline is the most powerful municipality in the Commonwealth, if not the nation.
Uh, no
I grew up in Brookline, and still spend time hanging out in my parents' backyard where we enjoy watching the planes pass directly overhead (making it hard to see the tail livery, darnit!). So Brookline gets planes at low altitude too.
I also lived in a Orchard Hill dorm out in Amherst. Wanna know what real airplane noise is? Live in the glide path of a C-130!
Say
There is an article on Westover in the Globe today. The last of the C5As departed recently, replaced by the much quieter C5Ms. The mayor of Chicopee is quoted as saying that the C5As, while quiet noisy, were nothing compared to the B52s.
As for the former Muddy River section of Boston, I just go by the maps. Perhaps Brookline is on the landing paths as opposed to the departure paths?
Two Comments
I lived adjacent to Hanscom AFB when there were C-5As using that field. WOW and Double WOW. Much louder that any civil airplane, even then, let alone today.
There are no landings on Runway 9. Aircraft would have to fly low over downtown Boston. The buildings are too high.
Brookline?!?!
Brookline?!?!
Indeed, the fact that they're
Indeed, the fact that they're framing this argument as an "us vs. them" with other communities being "them" makes me not want to listen to or support these people at all. The implication is that they want to solve their noise problem by spreading the problem back around to other people.
social justice issue?
OMFG - that must be why you can't hear yourself talk in Milton or Belmont.
Everyone is getting a piece of this mess - some more than others, but that has to do with the navigation system, not any differential in $$.
Roslindale aircraft mtg
Fabulous presentation by Alan Wright. Let us work together to bring healthier skies to our region.
Tom Buckley
milton ma
Ahem
I see many people under the route before it splits, but sucks to be them, right?
What this meeting is sorely missing is data on noise pollution. If I'd have to wager a guess, the planes are well within their tolerance due to the altitude at that point.
Spreading out flight paths once again might be a good mitigation, but I'm sure that's no consolation prize for residents of East Boston and South Boston that have lived with planes flying 100's of feet overhead for generations. Guess some neighborhoods are more important than others?
That's why I want to see Wright's map
I want to know where the planes go before they hit Roslindale, and then I want to know what the people living in those places go through. Also, I just like looking at maps like that.
"Listening Stations"
Massport measures the noise and puts the data on line: http://www.massport.com/logan-airport/about-logan/noise-abatement/monito...
About noise levels
I didn't get into it in my original post, but here goes:
People in places like East Boston are eligible for soundproofed windows and the like because they have average daily noise levels of a certain amount. People in places like Roslindale are not, because they don't.
So Roslindale is just populated by whiners?
No. Massport uses a daily noise average to figure out the "noise contours" in which people might be eligible for extra soundproofing. That made sense back in the day when planes sort of flew every which way and places like East Boston got (still gets?) noise all the time.
But there are large parts of the day when Roslindale rarely gets jets flying under 2,000 feet overhead. So on a daily basis, Roslindale still has a low "average" amount of noise each day. The problem is that when the planes do fly overhead now, it's one after another, sometimes for hours on end, and during those time periods, the noise can be fairly bad (and here I must disclose a caveat: we live two-thirds of the way up a hill in one of the parts of Roslindale under a flight path, so I'm speaking from personal experience).
Because the way planes fly out of Logan has changed, it might be time to change the way noise impacts are assessed.
Noise measuring boxes?
In Chelsea we have these boxes attached to light poles that are measuring the sound, they have Massport stickers all over them, so I assume they are from Massport. Do these other neighborhoods not have those?
Seasonal fluctuation
I think it's also a seasonal issue, which affects forward momentum on solving it. The noise is definitely more problematic in the warmer months when we have windows open - in the winter I barely notice the planes. But in the summer they wake me up before 6 am every time they use that runway at Logan. (We live in JP under the flight path.) What I would like to see is for the issue to keep getting addressed over the winter months, because otherwise it seems like it becomes a lower priority in the winter and it's harder for progress to happen.
Not all of East Boston. The
Not all of East Boston. The noise maps are from 1998 which was at least two runways ago. My house was quiet when the Macarena was hip (and when I bought it) so I qualify for nothing.
informal data collection
using a sound meter, the jets are 75db over Dudley Street. This number is right at the violation for noise via Boston ordinance.
You know you could move to a
You know you could move to a quite area right? Either solve your problem or stew in it. Grow up, take some responsibility for your decisions.
You know, we did move to a quiet neighborhood
Then the FAA started slotting planes over our heads. And the whole point of this meeting was to try to figure out how to solve the problem.
Grow up and learn to listen to what other people have to say.
Grow up and listen before you lecture
I have lived in my house for 30 years - probably made my "grown up decision" to buy a house before your daddy and mommy got drunk that night ...
Like most people in this situation, I did not "decide" to buy into a house under a flight path.
Grow up and pay attention: this is a NEW problem caused by a NEW technology that sends planes over the SAME areas again and again and again.
Just like Teletubbies. Again. You probably loved those. Again.
Bullcrap
My neighborhood has planes overhead from 4:45 am to after midnight.
My neighborhood is not on that map.
Glad you got that out of your system
Now that you're calmer, please note the map in question shows the flight paths from just ONE Logan runway. It's the one that affects Roslindale specifically, because, well, as you may have noticed from my original post, the meeting was in Roslindale to organize people in Roslindale (and some surrounding neighborhoods). Alan Wright did show a map for at least one other runway; he's a nice guy and if you ask nicely, I'm sure he can either show you or point you to maps that show the impact from other runways.
Massport complaints
The planes fly directly over my house in West Roxbury and have annoyed me for a couple of years now. I complained every day for hundreds of days in a row to the massport noise complaint online form. What I found was that they weren't counting my complaints in their report. For example, if I complained 30 days in a row for a month the total number of complaints in their report for West Roxbury for that month might be less than 30. This happened to me multiple times. I decided that complaining to massport is ineffective and only accentuates my unhappiness because it makes me hyper aware of the airplane noise. I can imagine it's even more stressful to call the phone number; who wants to call someone at 5am? Especially if you just woke up and haven't had a coffee yet. It's an annoyance the federal government is forcing upon us and as such it's really frustrating to figure out a way forward toward solving the problem through powerless local officials. I'd like to see a better explanation of what Newton and Brookline did to solve this problem; is this a path forward for Boston neighborhoods too? If not, why not?
Public records reveal that
Public records reveal that many of the big names likely familiar to you from your Massport complaint efforts just so happen to reside in Brookline and Newton. If that clears up any of your questions about the special treatment for those areas.
this feels like a true statement
but where's the actual evidence?
What names specifically? Where do you see this?
Start with Flavio Leo and
Start with Flavio Leo and work your way down. If you've ever escalated a complaint with Massport or attended a joke community meeting, you know the names. Employ some google-fu to see where they own property and voila.
The collective wealth, clout
The collective wealth, clout and pull in Newton and Brookline far surpasses our poor, opinion-not-counting ass.
+1
Just submitted my complaint
Plane Noise
You want to know why Brookline and Newton Had the plane re-routed? It's called "Rich White Liberal Privilege". Here in Dorchester the planes are much lower and noisier and I'm sure people in Brookline and Newton could not care less. Send em back.
You are cute
Seriously. There is no social justice angle to be played here. Belmont is getting strafed, as are Brookline and Milton and Winchester.
Law Suit Necessary
The issue about noise pollution in Hyde Park has been going on for some time. There was a meeting at Milton High School. 3 congresspersons attended, the FAA attended, Massport attended. We left thinking something would be done to stop this unreasonable noise, but nothing was done to stop this it.
Numerous complaints have been filed with Massport (though more from Milton and there should be more from Hyde Park) but nothing was done to stop this unreasonable noise. People should continue to file these complaints even though it is a waste of time.
Massport and the FAA have openly stated that their job is efficiency and safety of the airlines. They dont care about the people that are not on the airplanes and dont view that as part of their job
The only thing that will stop this is a lawsuit. Keep hearing about a lawsuit filed by Brookline, but no one ever gives the cite so dont know if it is folklore or real. Someone please give the cite for this case.
Boston should file a law suit to stop this unreasonable noise. If Brookline can do it so can Boston. Hyde Park which is further from the airport Brookline.
Another thing the govt (dont know if it is Massport or FAA) pays for soundproofing of homes in East Boston. The people in East Boston knew when they bought there that they were buying within blocks an airport (unlike Hyde which is around 15 miles from the airport).
The govt should provide soundproofing to homes in Hyde Park. Govt claims the noise isnt loud enough and thus refuses to provide Hyde Park with soundproofing, whatever regulation claims this should be changed because it certainly is loud enough and the noise has increased since those regulations have been enacted.
Also the airlines should be sued for nuisance and unfair business practice. The airlines make millions of dollars, many of their officers have 7 figure salaries. Airlines need to fly but they dont need the huge profits they make, some of this profit should go to soundproofing homes.
Flying hours should be regulated. Airlines need to fly but they dont need to fly 24 hours a day. Late night and early morning flights should be prohibited.
Also does anyone know where these helicopters are coming from. If so please state this. Massport claims the helicopters are not flying in or out of Logan and its not their responsibility
Not exactly
..No one simply pays for all the houses in East Boston to be sound proofed. Every year they determine the zone in which a home would qualify, then it is dependent on available grants, which you then have to apply for. It's not like you move to East Boston and someone shows up at your door offering to soundproof your home.
How long have planes been flying in the vicinity of all these other neighborhoods? Did everyone move in before the planes started flying over? When people say "those in East Boston knew when they moved in..." .....didn't those in the above neighborhoods who moved in after the court decision to narrow the paths know as well.
It seems as though East Boston residents shouldn't be allowed to complain, even though it is one of the most heavily effective areas, because those people "knew when they moved there" but those in Rosi, Hyde Park, or JP just had no clue! Laughable reasoning.
It's a new development.
It has only really been a problem since 2015, when the RNAV system was implemented - it forces all airplanes taking off from a particular runway to follow a corridor over the city towards a satellite beacon roughly over Forest Hills Cemetery (as Adam mentioned in the article). This results in hundreds of jets flying along the same flight path every 90 seconds for hours. I've lived in JP for 15 years and in our current place for 10 years, and the airplane noise was not an issue until 2 years ago. That's the difference between us and people who live in East Boston or Winthrop.
East Boston is not a monolith
East Boston is not a monolith and for many of us, the noise is a new development AND we don't get any soundproofing benefit. Because the noise is new. Are you following here?
My house in Eastie was quiet
My house in Eastie was quiet as a tomb before RNAV. When the flight paths first changed much later, for about a year, the planes shook the frame of my house so hard in the middle of the night that I would be startled awake from a dead sleep -- and Massport's response was that it had always been like that, or sometimes, that I was imagining things. Yeah, i just never noticed spice jars being vibrated off the rack and smashed at 2:30am before. Plausible.
I paid to replace all my own windows because Massport says nothing changed since 1998 when they decided who qualifies. I installed AC because I can never open my windows overnight again. And to top it off, they make up fake complaint numbers so it looks like things are fine.
Massport needs to go down.
Instead of soundproofing...
... they should enforce use of the small plastic devices mentioned in the article. This is a problem of money not spent on better technology because that would cut into profits.
Fixing the Airbus whine is a
Fixing the Airbus whine is a good thing, but it doesn't solve the noise problem in general.
1996 Record of Decision
The record of decision from 1996 is available here: https://www.faa.gov/airports/new_england/environmental/logan_documents/m...
To be fair, I'm pretty sure this suit was put together by a collection of people in the area, both JP folks near the pond and Brookline/Newton.
A federal appeals court sided with plaintiffs in Phoenix last month, directing the FAA to reassess flights paths that had disproportionately affected certain neighborhoods. https://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/news/2017/08/29/u-s-court-of-appeals...
The Brookline case is
The Brookline case is believed to be Runway 27 Coalition Inc v.
Donald D Engen, as Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, and Federal Aviation Administration, Defendants, 679 F. Supp. 95 (D. Mass 1987).
But this case didnt prohibit planes from flying over Brookline only that
1. The Federal Aviation Administration and T. Allan McArtor, as he is Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, shall prepare an environmental assessment ("EA") which complies with all applicable requirements of law, both procedural and substantive, including the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. §§ 4321 et seq.), FAA Order 1050.ID and CEQ Regulations (40 CFR §§ 1500 et seq.), on the impact on the human environment of:
a. the introduction of a multiple runway configuration procedure for arrivals and departures from runways 27 and 33L at Logan Airport in 1973, and
b. the changes to the Runway 27 departure headings and procedures implemented beginning in 1974 and culminating in the current departure headings and procedures for Runway 27 in place at Logan Airport.
2. The EA shall be performed expeditiously and the EA process, including the decision either to issue a finding of no significant impact ("FONSI") or to prepare an environmental impact statement ("EIS"), shall be completed no later than February 26, 1988. A copy of the EA shall be provided to plaintiffs, to their counsel and to other interested parties.
3. The evidence presented at the trial of this action and the Opinion of this court dated June 30, 1987 shall be considered part of the administrative record for the EA.
The court retains jurisdiction of the case in order to facilitate prompt judicial review (a) if defendants fail to comply with this judgment and (b) if the EA leads to filing of a FONSI.
Costs are awarded to plaintiffs.
Seems that same applies to Boston in addition to other causes of action
Cant find the City of Phoenix court case believed to be in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit but it is believed to have issued a similar ruling.
So the issue is why not Boston?
These people complaining
These people complaining about this are ridiculous. If you're so bothered by noise move to NH. I am so tired of Boston residents that want to enjoy the benefits of living in a city with none of the drawbacks. I recently moved to an area where the planes are flying over my place at all hours of the day. It is not that bad, and even if it mildly annoys me, all I have to do is remind myself that I enjoy living near an airport that has tons of daily flights. Plus it is pretty cool sitting on my deck and watching the planes fly low over me.
The T that runs by my place is even louder than the planes though. I am I supposed to start complaining to the MBTA that the trains run too frequently?
Oh look
A Massport employee.
the right thing to do
Noise indeed is a fact of life in the city. If I bought my house by a train track, I would expect it. I don't mind airplanes, mopeds, buses, all of it. HOWEVER, this noise has dramatically increased (as well as Logan passenger traffic - which is only going to continue to increase) over the past 18 months. Planes loud overhead every 20-60 seconds? Even the MBTA can't top that consistency (I wish). Not to mention the environmental effects to noise pollution and heart conditions which is cited in the concentrated carbon pollution caused by the jets - actual recent scientific studies cite this. The narrow corridors are a solution for the airlines to PROFIT at the expense of the people that make this city great - not to mention this was implemented WITHOUT community pushback or input. This is happening in other cities all over the country at this very moment who are suffering the same effects of these navigation changes. We live in a democracy. The FAA is a federal agency. Massport is a local agency. Citizens standing up is the RIGHT thing to do.
You are off base
The complaint is not, "We don't want any planes flying over." The complaint is, "We don't want every flight concentrated over our heads." Spread the flights out - the way it used to be - so we can share the burden with others.
I have lived in this area for over 25 years. There have always been planes, but the change in how they are routed unduly punishes the people under this new flight path.
Planes
I spend a lot of time outdoors in Milton, you get used to the planes flying low. It's just part of living near a big city.
People living right near the airport get the most airplane noise
It's the people living right near the airport (i. e. East Boston and Southie), that get the most airplane flights flying directly over their heads, and that's what the people in those areas have legitimately complained about. While noise is a factor in city living, the airplane noise could and should be moderated by making sure that no Boston neighborhood gets a disproportionate percentage of airplanes flying over the residents' heads.
Willfully Ignorant
You are willfully ignorant on the issue here and clearly not reading the actual articles that time and again point out that the FAA recently changed their navigation system to concentrate their takeoffs over a tiny sliver of homes. This is not about people who cannot otherwise handle city living - it's about an unfair allocation of that noise.
i never understood
the drama around airplane noise. its like white noise in the background. move on to more important issues ...
airplane noise is NOT like white noise!!!
The airplane noise has definitely increased and intensified over the last few months - at least. It scrambles my TV a lot of the time and startles my dog sometimes. I appreciate sitting on my porch or Yirrell Beach watching the planes come in and I knew what we were getting into when I moved back home to Winthrop over 10 years ago. Our home is sound proofed. It was NOT always this disruptive...
It's a problem farther out, too.
The airplane noise is a problem as far out as Westwood, although you would never know it to look at the list of complaints by town (which I doubt is compiled accurately, but that's a different problem). I am amazed at the indifference of my neighbors to the constant, low-flying airplanes that roar overhead both day and night. It's incredible how much people are willing to overlook, and in this town, it's not an issue of "dealing with typical noise from living near a city." The noise should not be a factor out here, yet it is.
The abuse of Runway 27 is an absolute nightmare. I applaud the efforts of those living in its flight path who are located closer to the city and are able to rally people to take a stand.
Why are no one in Cambridge and Somerville Complaining?
The new flights paths seems to show clearly that west cambridge, and parts of Somerville are real losers in this new flight path. The plans are much lower in this point in their journey than when they get to Rosindale. I personally know they fly over my house far more often now in Somerville.
And you know what...
It isn't that bad. Not worse than the train near me, or the fire trucks, or my music, or an ambulance, or a lawn mower on a summer day. Far less worse actually. The whine test for me is that if other communities that are more affected aren't, complaining...
Any bit of annoyance I feel is massively fixed when I fly to Logan and it takes me a 10 min Uber, and practically anywhere I'm flying to, takes a minimum of 30-45 minutes to reach where I'm going.
Having lived in somerville
Having lived in somerville previously, they ABSOLUTELY complain
Many Communities Receive Aircraft Noise
Many, many communities receive airplane noise at an annoying level. Some complain a lot, some not so much. A community's complaint level is only slightly related to the noise level.
The complaint level is strongly influenced by factors such as 'new' (recent increase) vs. 'old' and socioeconomic level (especially home renter vs. owner).
The Logan CAC (Community Advisory Committee) made an good attempt at ranking communities by the number of Highly Annoyed Persons (HAPs). (The LCAC uses the more neutral term Level Weighted Population, LWP.)
The LCAC rating is based on 2015 flight information, which is after all RNAV procedures were implemented. The table is page 76 of
http://www.bostonoverflight.com/docs/blans_p3_final-report_appendix-l_bo...
Here are the 'Top Ten' plus some other communities of interest.
Rank Community HAPs
1 East Boston 2,567
2 LYNN 1,667
3 REVERE 1,577
4 CHELSEA 1,574
5 Dorchester 1,512
6 SOMERVILLE 1,217
7 South Boston 1,214
8 WINTHROP 1,109
9 MEDFORD 1,089
10 CAMBRIDGE 1,069
17 NEWTON 533
21 MILTON 394
24 BROOKLINE 331
28 Roslindale 299
Not so fast
Massport repeatedly foists unreliable data out of context on the unsuspecting (and even suspecting) public. This is one of those data points as it relies solely on population rather than the number of times that people are annoyed. A better example of the problem is the National Transportation Noise Map (https://maps.bts.dot.gov/arcgis/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=a303ff59...), which plots out road and aviation noise, nationally. Pull up Milton and you'll see that there are parts of Milton that are as loud as Downtown Boston thanks to the concentrated and overused flightpaths, while Newton has noise levels so low in parts that they don't even register on the scale.
NOT Massport Data
The rating of communities by the number of Highly Annoyed Persons (HAPs) was done the the Logan CAC (Community Advisory Committee), NOT Massport.
The LCAC was comprised of representatives of various towns and Boston neighborhoods. I doubt that any government agency would publish such a list. The table is page 76 of
http://www.bostonoverflight.com/docs/blans_p3_final-report_appendix-l_bo...
The rating is based on the combination of average noise level and population, which are related by the "Schultz curve". That relationship has been validated by hundreds of studies. So, yes, population is a factor.
The Schultz curve treats 'all noise as equal'. A recent noise increase does not count more heavily than 'old' noise.
Logan Airport Noise
My reply to several comments and questions. First, I’m not blaming any community nor suggesting that Brookline and Newton conspired to keep planes away – they did not nor do other wealthy communities have special influence . The Runway 27 flight corridor was the result of a court settlement but based on population and noise data that is 30 years old. Those things have changed as has the technology that is now concentrating traffic in an even narrower band along with growth in Logan flight volume that is resulting in more noise. There is air traffic over Newton and south Brookline but at much greater height such that what noise there is, is not a problem. Some of the charts I put up are not yet publicly available but will be soon. South Boston Fair Skies will set up an on-line location and post as much as we can. Finally, for some to say that those complaining should move out of the city I will counter that instead the Congress, the FAA, and the airlines could do much more to reduce the negative impact of air traffic. Our neighborhood is not the only one in Boston negatively affected; there are many other towns surrounding Logan Airport and many other cities in the US that are being hurt by the noise. Would you have all of us move away and if so, to where?
Massport Funded Study by MIT
It's a relevant topic that I have not seen mentioned.
To their credit, Massport has funded the MIT Aero & Astro Dept. (Prof. John Hansman et. al.) to look at noise mitigation techniques. Although it's a national issue, I don't know of a similar study -- and the Boston area noise issues are less intense than those in, say, Phoenix, San Francisco or Chicago.
The most important techniques are those that reduce the noise 'coming off' the airplane. Less important are those that shift noise from one community to another.
Results will likely come out in phases over the next year.
Easy Answer
Unless there are strong prevailing cross winds, the easy answer is for planes to have to take off over the harbor out towards sea before 6 am and after 11 pm. There should be a window of time that the large population under these paths can get some rest. The airlines don't want this as it adds fuel and time and the environmentalists argue it is a waste of carbon emissions, but the public health concern of loss of sleep for those of us who have lived under this new air force beginning in 2013 is too great.
This is what happens when you live in a one party state. We have no power with the Federal government because we will reliably send nothing but Democrats to Washington. Therefore, no one there has to do anything to appease us. Especially the Democrats since they know they have no reelection concerns unless it is in the primary. Therefore, the only path for them is to appease the greens by supporting the shortest flight paths to minimize fuel, take the campaign contributions of the airlines, airline unions and government unions and screw the people they represent. They are entitled to their phony baloney jobs after all. The only US Representative or Senator in my 20 years of living here that has left office due to losing an election was the Republican Scott Brown. No Democrat has any fear of the people. They are there until they die or retire.
Real Answer
Terrapin
Massport does that today, and has for (guessing) 20 years.
It involves takeoffs and landings in opposite directions on the same runway, so
See chart 29 of:
http://massportcac.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Final-BOS-Update-MCAC-...
The REAL answer is: There's no easy answer.
If there were, it would have been implemented years ago.
ODO overnight seems like a
ODO overnight seems like a great solution, unfortunately Logan doesn't seem to honor it often, even when the wind speed is low. It's easy to observe Logan operations online and see for yourself. And yes, communities to the northwest are affected pretty severely as well. Sen. Brownsberger has been working on this for some time.
Then why
Why are there planes taking off over my house in JP beginning at 5:05 am almost every morning? No, they use the runway and take off to the west ever since the 2013 FAA directive. Last night they were taking off in this direction until at least 11:00 when I finally fell asleep.
It is an EASY answer.
There are other cities also bearing the brunt of RNAV: ...hello.
A story that focuses on the effects to the metro area of only one Logan runway is misleading and gives the public the impression that only the communities south of Boston are suffering from RNAV. It would be more honest to show all the flight paths pre- and post-RNAV so that people can understand what this change really means for communities on every side of Boston.
To the north of Boston, life in communities like Chelsea, Everett, and Medford has changed dramatically since traffic on runway 33L permanently doubled in 2007, and then got concentrated when RNAV was implemented in 2013. Those cities get every single departure before the path split that sends jets either west, over Somerville, Cambridge, Belmont and Watertown, or north, over Winchester. 33L is also one of the preferred runways for late-night international departures, like the Cathay Pacific flight to Hong Kong that leaves Logan at 2:00AM several times a week, sometimes flying over residential neighborhoods instead of taking off over the Atlantic.
To the west, neighborhoods that had very little noise before 2013 are now regularly bombarded with RNAV-concentrated noise when 33L is in use. Boston West Fair Skies was born out of frustration with these changes.
So let's put this in context: this is a regional problem, not just a south shore problem.
OK, I didn't get into it much in my original post
Because this was an organizing meeting mainly for people in Roslindale (NOT the South Shore) and its immediate neighbors, but, yes, people at the meeting acknowledged other communities are affected.
Tim McCarthy, for example, said the system means Hingham no longer has much of a noise issue - because the flight path was shifted over Hull. Wright noted the problems in northwestern suburbs and the towns just north of Logan.
And one of the new group's goals is to try to link up with folks in these towns (in fact, there was somebody from Milton at the meeting), in part to keep Massport from basically dividing and conquering this time.
It's a Bigger 'Problem'
The 'airplane noise problem' isn't restricted to Roslindale. As Adam notes. Objectively, Roslindale is far from the most affected community.
The 'problem' isn't restricted to communities affect by recent (2013) RNAV implementations. (Most impacted are East Boston, Chelsea, Everett, Medford. Also, Arlington, Belmont, Somerville, Cambridge. Also, Roxbury, Roslindale, Jamaica Plain.)
And, the 'problem' IS NOT restricted to the communities that complain the most. Many of the most affected communities (e.g., Lynn, Revere, Chelsea, Winthrop) do not complain much.
There are 40 or 50 communities affected by airplane noise. And EVERYBODY should be treated equally -- not just the complainers. That makes it a hard problem for aviation managers. There are only compromise / 'lesser of evils' type solutions.
TOP TEN communities affect by Logan airplane noise.
Rank Community HAPs (Highly Annoyed Persons)
1 East Boston 2,567
2 LYNN 1,667
3 REVERE 1,577
4 CHELSEA 1,574
5 Dorchester 1,512
6 SOMERVILLE 1,217
7 South Boston 1,214
8 WINTHROP 1,109
9 MEDFORD 1,089
10 CAMBRIDGE 1,069
Not exactly
Again, the HAP data is deeply flawed as it skews towards population counts, not DNL levels. DNL in towns like Milton and Quincy have gone UP as a result of NextGen and the RNAVs - if you look at Rozzie's DNL values, I'm sure you'll see their DNL has gone up as well.