Only sound & fury, no concrete plan to reduce flight noise

New Delhi: Just how noisy is noisy enough for an aircraft to be banned from landing at Indian airports so that people living nearby can sleep peacefully is an issue that’s now gripping the Indian aviation authorities.
Unlike the west where airports are closed at night and noisy old planes are banished even during day, authorities here are now trying to finish this exercise at the earliest following a high court order on Thursday.
Airport operators say they are going to take steps but there may be no respite anytime soon. ‘‘Without fixing any limits, asking us to control noise pollution is like asking a traffic cop to challan a speeding motorist without any speed limit,’’ said a senior airport official.
The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) has a list of aircraft under category II that are classified as noisy and not allowed at many western airports. These include some of the the aircraft classified by ICAO under Stage II regulations. These include Boeing 727-100/200, Boeing 737-100/200, Boeing 747-100/200, Mc Donnell Douglas DC 8, DC 9, Ilyushin Il-76 M/T, Il-86 and Tupolev Tu-154. India has phased out some aircraft of 1960-era and is now planning to banish some others of 1970-decade. But everything is just a plan right now.
05/06/10 Times of India

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Categories: Airports Jun 2010, Indian Aviation- In General Jun 2010