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Case Study on Aircraft Noise Reduction by Variation of Departure Profiles during Night Flights

Mitzkat, Mathias; Strümpfel, Christoph

Since the civil air transportation sector has been growing significantly, with an increase not only in number of flights, but also with regards to their environmental impact, emissions have been growing to the same degree. Residents in areas around airports are therefore exposed to an increasing strain of noise pollution. Past scientific research has identified large potential through the implementation of operational noise abatement procedures. The following paper will present a case study concerning noise abatement procedures during departure flight phase as a measure to reduce aircraft noise. The study was conducted on behalf of the aircraft noise commission council of Berlin-Tegel airport. The main objective of this research was to assess whether the reduction of aircraft noise pollution can be achieved by noise abatement procedures, which are specifically adapted for the purpose of night-flights. Therefore, regular domestic overnight airmail flights were conducted as test flights between Berlin-Tegel airport and Stuttgart-Echterdingen airport. Those flights, which were performed from August 2016 to May 2017, qualify perfectly for this study, due to their specific schedule and uniform testing environment combined with a higher general focus on night-time noise immissions. In order to develop sustainable operational procedures for aircraft noise reduction, a holistic approach is necessary. Hence, three distinct departures were introduced and performed during the domestic overnight airmail test flights. Subsequently, data about the test flights gathered from the FANOMOS database, contributed by air traffic control, were compared to data which was plotted at specific noise measuring points located at the two airports. With respect to the effectiveness, applicability and manageability of those procedures for flight crews, both airports were analysed separately. The study results show that customized noise abatement departure procedures for Berlin-Tegel offer a significant potential of noise reduction in airport surrounding areas, whereas at Stuttgart-Echterdingen their impact on noise reduction is negligible. The procedures are generally feasible for daily operation and can easily be managed by flight crews. Ultimately, the study has shown that the success of noise reduction procedures strongly depends on the airport layout, it's surrounding area and population. Each airport has to be assessed separately in this perspective.
Published in: Deutscher Luft- und Raumfahrtkongress 2019, 10.25967/490198, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Luft- und Raumfahrt - Lilienthal-Oberth e.V.