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Why is there so much airplane noise on this bright sunny day? — Brooklynian

Why is there so much airplane noise on this bright sunny day?

back to brooklyn
back to brooklyn
edited November -1 in Prospect Heights

I thought the worst noise from the LGA flight path was reserved for cloudy, foggy weather. Well, today it's clear and bright out there, and we're being subjected to the old "every two minutes there's another low flying plane" routine.

What gives? Anything we can do about it as far as bitching and moaning is concerned?

Comments

  • back to brooklyn
    back to brooklyn

    OK, so apparently the FAA is more informed when it comes to the weather than I am (I typically just look up and smile when I see the sun). It's supposed to rain briefly at 2PM.

    Still, since it's been cloudy/rainy at some point almost every day for over a month, and this noise is getting very irritating.

  • idlewild
    idlewild

    When the LGA in-bounds land on Runway 4, they go low & slow over the Slope. This is because Runway 4 is only 8 miles or so from us. This goes by fast when you're doing 150MPH +. Most of the flaps and gear are down and the power is up to compensate for the drag. All of this makes a ton of noise. When the in-bounds are landing on Runway 31, they fly a couple of thousand feet higher and a tad faster,thus not needing a lot of flap and power. They gain an extra five miles from having to make a U-turn around Citi-field. And sometimes you just have 20+ year old designed aircraft that make noise no matter what their position and situation.

  • notsayin
    notsayin

    LOVE the detailed reply (and also the username), thanks Idlewild.

    The runway choice is almost solely determined by wind direction - vs other weather factors - isn't it?

    Thus the Slope/Heights flight path can happen on a sunny day with winds out of the North/Northeast, as well as cloudy/rainy days, right?

    Sorry, I'm chilling at YYZ waiting for a flight delayed due to weather :)

  • bkchickie
    bkchickie

    Wow--Idlewild, great reply! Thanks for the info.

    Putting science and reason aside for a moment :-), I think there are days when--for whatever reasons--your ears are more sensitive to the noise than on other days. 95% of the time the planes just sink into the background for me, but every so often I think "Wow, those planes are just L-O-U-D." It doesn't seem to correlate to any particular weather or flight paths (for me.)

  • salix
    salix

    Your location on the ground can also affect what you hear. The sound of the Sunday evening incomings in Windsor Terrace can be quite different from that in Bay Ridge or Sunset Park. Ambient noise, humidity & other factors also enter in. I guarantee that no one in Sunset Park notice the planes next Sunday evening - Puerto Rican Day afterparty on Fifth Ave!

  • idlewild
    idlewild

    Salix said:

    Your location on the ground can also affect what you hear. The sound of the Sunday evening incomings in Windsor Terrace can be quite different from that in Bay Ridge or Sunset Park. Ambient noise, humidity & other factors also enter in. I guarantee that no one in Sunset Park notice the planes next Sunday evening - Puerto Rican Day afterparty on Fifth Ave!

    I forgot about that. We're (Park Slope & Prospect Heights) close to the top of Brooklyn from sea-level. Thus, closer to the aircraft. Plus, the farther north the incoming arrive to runway 4 the more altitude they lose. And yes, a heavy cloudy day will act as a bounce board for the sound.

  • terracerookie
    terracerookie

    I just moved to Windsor Terrace from North Brooklyn and, after two edgy nights of surprisingly loud airplane noise directly over us every 2-3 minutes or so, rendering our modest 2nd floor balcony almost useless, I find myself obsessively Googling flight paths and reading old message boards to see if I just made a gigantic tactical error. Glad to see a recent conversation about this taking place, and grateful for the detailed info, Idlewild and Salix.

    I was really only dimly aware of this flight path issue up to now (though we all heard about the park geese, I think!), and it wasn’t something that occurred to me to ask when researching our next neighborhood – which we hoped would be greener, calmer, quieter, less toxic than Greenpoint… Now I’m stumbling upon sites suggesting that this noise affects stress levels, health, learning in children, sends invisible jet fuel particles raining down, etc. and I’m mildly freaking out (I know, I know -- I need to back away from the Google and/or leave NYC).

    The past two nights have been cloudy/rainy so I can only hope this has something to do with the low flight paths I've heard mentioned. I have never heard any WT/Slope fans complain about or even hint at this issue, so I guess you get used to it? Can anyone offer reassurance, or coping tips to get through the next year before we have to flee back to the oil patch?

  • bkchickie
    bkchickie

    Terrace--relax. Give it a few weeks and you won't even notice this. I write this as someone who used to live two houses away from the Northeast Corridor trains and commuter rail. The first night in the place I thought "I have made a HUGE mistake." But, after two weeks, I didn't even notice. In fact, it got to the point when I knew it was time to leave for work when I certain train passed! I miss my trains :-(.

  • idlewild
    idlewild

    You're not going to escape the jet fuel residue. You have flights from very low altitude to high altitude literally carpeting all of the world, much less all of NYC. The only jet noise free zone I can think of is an 8 mile by 2 mile corridor going northeast, from Bath Beach to the border of Brownsville (between 18th Ave/E.NY Ave/Jamaica Ave & Kings HWY/Flatlands Ave.).

  • eastbloc
    eastbloc

    Planes fly over directly over my house every one or two minutes, sometimes more. I don't even notice them unless I'm trying to for some reason.

    Unless this is one of the first warning signs of an impending psychological breakdown, you'll probably get used to it :)

  • terracerookie
    terracerookie

    Ha! eastbloc, I think you may be on to something re. my mental state :)

    Thanks for the reassurance. I'm now trying to think of this as a delightful quirk of our new 'hood, like Alvy growing up under the rollercoaster in Annie Hall. It's not like it could make me any *more* neurotic...

  • notsayin
    notsayin

    I know it sounds paranoid but this is slightly weird.

    Anyone else notice the helicopter that's hovering WAY up there, way higher than a news chopper would ever hover? Maybe over Prospect Heights?

    Not to sound paranoid, but also, LGA runway 4 final traffic seems to be diverting west over the East River, rather than the usual 5th Ave approach?

    I just saw the "there's a helo hovering over Park Slope, covering the 5th Ave Cat Clinic accident" post on the Park Slope forum...that CAN'T be this chopper...it's way too high and for way too long.

  • idlewild
    idlewild

    I noticed the chopper as well. He must be at least 4000ft up. It could be a survey flight, a training flight for the NYPD or PAPD. Maybe even a film crew. When the LGA flights go over the East River they're landing on Runway 22. The other end of 4. This flight path takes them to the north Bronx/Yonkers, then right over City Island to LGA.

  • notsayin
    notsayin

    Over at the Park Slope thread they seem to be indicating its been up there for five hours or so. When I witnessed it it was locked in a nearly-perfect immobile hover.

    Seems like a weird training exercise - and an extremely pricey film shoot for one shot.

    Maybe some sort of high-level NYPD surveillance, using an infrared camera with a long lens and a gyrostabilizer so as to be somewhat covert?

    Ok now I'm sounding paranoid.

  • arches
    arches

    the helicopter is on the flight map (its the only plane icon that isn't moving, aside from those at the airports). zoom in to our area.

    http://planefinder.net/

  • arches
    arches

    ok, it's not on the map anymore, yet i can still hear it. Maybe that was just coincidence.

  • notsayin
    notsayin

    Mystery solved. Twitter user @yankees368 somehow tracked the helicopter reg N666NY to one hovering 5,600 ft over Atlantic and Flatbush last night.

    A little Googling connected the registrant's address to Sky River Helicopters in NJ, who confirmed to me it was their Robinson R44 (and possibly a second helo taking turns) doing an evening-long traffic study for the DOT.

    I'm checking to confirm, but guessing it's arena-related. Sky River had no idea, but they were super nice and forthcoming.

    We can take our tinfoil hats off (for now!) - and probably thank Bruce Ratner for the excitement.

  • notsayin
    notsayin

    Confirmed. Baseline study of traffic conditions pre-arena opening for DOT.

    Beats aerial drones or black helicopters any time though.

  • steveo
    steveo

    Wow, thanks for making those calls, notsayin!

  • mg
    mg

    Wow, thanks for figuring that out. It was there sometime earlier this week too, just hanging out in the Big Dipper, and I couldn't figure out what use a helicopter would be up that high, especially at night.

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