An Airport Environmental Issue: Noise Pollution

     One of the biggest issues with airport operations is that of the noise created from aircraft and ground equipment. Noise pollution is a serious issue especially when a large airport is located in a densely populated area but it can also effect rural airports too. Noise effects both humans and animals so the more noise reduction technology that is created the better. To best see this issue let us look at Seattle-Tacoma International airport in Washington. 

    Sea-Tac airport is a major hub for international flights so it sees its share of airline traffic but it is in the middle of the residential areas near Seattle and Tacoma. An article in The Seattle Times explains how the uptick in travel through the airport has created some unhappy residents in the areas surrounding the airport (Gates,2018). The article explains how the approach paths into the airport are over the same residential areas and that the planes are guided in by air traffic controllers which has led to less smooth approaches into the airport thus increases noise levels. The FAA attempted to create a satellite-guided precision path for approach into the airport which decreased noise levels but it did not include both approach directions so it was impossible to safely space the planes so it ultimately failed (Gates,2018).


    To mitigate the effects of the noise around the airport, I think the first solution would be to create the second approach that is guided from the other side that integrates both directions automatically and safely. The second solution would be to research and create an Optimized Profile Descent for each direction of approach and adjusted for the different sizes of aircraft (What to Do About Noise?,2018). Combining these two strategies could greatly reduce the noise pollution created by the expanded traffic passing through Sea-Tac. 


References:

Gates, Dominic. (2018). As Sea-Tac Airport traffic booms, distant neighborhoods are noisy despite FAA plan. The Seattle Times. https://www.seattletimes.com/business/boeing-aerospace/sea-tac-airport-expansion-to-gather-speed-as-surrounding-communities-feel-the-impact/

Noise Quest. (2018). What to Do About Noise?. Pennsylvania State University. https://www.noisequest.psu.edu/noiseeffects-optimizedprofiledescent.html

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