Noise Impact Study of a New 2004 Noise Abatement Procedure at the Louisville Airport

摘要

A flight demonstration test in September 2004 at Louisville was a continuation of researchconducted in 2002 by a team sponsored by the Federal Aviation Administration’s Center ofExcellence for Air Traffic Systems. A continuous descent procedure was designed primarily tominimize environmental impacts such as community noise and aircraft emissions, and tomaximize savings in fuel and flight time. The test was designed to show the operationalsuitability of the new area navigation arrival procedure that begins at cruise altitude and whichmay be used in daily operation on two opposite facing runways. Flyover noise measurementswere taken during a two-week testing period, and a three-week baseline period. The latestresearch focused on detailed analysis of aircraft performance, collecting noise data and noiseprediction. The noise measurements confirm increased repeatability and predictability of noiselevels that resulted from the well-designed procedure. The Integrated Noise Model was used tocompare noise levels of test and baseline flights. And noise predictions using precise flight dataconfirm that a continuous descent approach reduces noise levels by 4 to 6 decibels which in turnreduces contour area by as much as 30 percent.