An Analysis of Community Complaints to Air Force Aircraft Noise
Abstract
Community complaints to Air Force aircraft operations were studied for seven different Air Force Bases. For the seven AF Bases, the number of years that complaint records were available ranged from two to six years. Some 95% of the complaints received could be attributed to aircraft operations noise (flyover and ground runup noise), low flying aircraft, or sonic boom noise. The main interest for this study involved complaints to aircraft operations noise which comprised 57% of the total number of complaints received. The number of noise complaints for these 7 bases, an average of 43.3 per year, is considered low relative to those for some commercial airports. With the exception of one AF Base where noise complaints were at a relatively low level and remained almost constant over a four-year period, noise complaints were appreciably reduced in recent years. This reduction in noise complaints can, in part, be attributed to local AF Base programs for working with noise complaints and where possible, utilization of noise abatement procedures. A cursory inquiry involving fourteen additional AF Bases plus detailed study of the complaint records for the seven AF Bases of this study shows that TAC operations have a significantly greater noise impact on communities than do SAC and MAC operations.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 1980
- Accession Number
- ADA092923
Entities
People
- J. E. Mabry
- R. B. Carey