"South Carolina airport noise study gets static"

Friday, October 4, 2002

Airport noise study gets static
Neighbors don't agree with assessments
By MONIQUE ANGLE
The Columbia (SC) State


Many residents living near the airport disagree with a study that finds
only 30 people are exposed to noise levels deemed too high by the
Federal Aviation Administration.

Columbia Metropolitan Airport officials held a meeting Thursday to show
residents the results of the noise study, which estimates levels now and
over the next 20 years.

The airport is conducting the study to "be a better neighbor," said
airport director Mike Flack.

Officials presented a noise contour map, which showed an outline of the
areas experiencing high noise levels. One neighborhood in Lexington
County, Churchill Heights, had 17 homes experiencing high levels of
noise, according to the map.

For residents in that part of Churchill Heights, federal grants may be
available for soundproofing homes or building sound barriers. Airport
officials are now looking at ways to significantly reduce noise in that
neighborhood.

For other neighborhoods near the airport, officials said, they will work
with the Federal Aviation Administration to try to change flight paths,
Flack said.

Several residents, who said they are awakened late at night by loud
planes overhead, said the study doesn't accurately reflect what they
experience on a daily basis.

"Why don't you come and spend the night in my bedroom and hear my
windows rattle," between 2 and 4 a.m., Cedarwood resident Nan Cogdill
asked noise study officials.

Residents also took issue with future sound projections, which indicate
that runway expansions won't increase noise in the area.

In five years, about 120 families will experience high noise levels, the
study found. But even if the runway is expanded, airport officials
expect the number of people disturbed by noise to lesson to 18 families
by 2022, when airplanes are expected to be quieter because of
technology.

Officials determined sound levels using a computer program designed by
the FAA that takes into account time of day, type of plane, frequency
and other factors. In addition, officials put sound devices in seven
back yards to record noise levels for 24 hours. The 15-month study began
in January.

Some residents said the study wouldn't be necessary if airport officials
just told pilots to avoid neighborhoods.

Pilots "are making a beeline over my house, cutting right through our
neighborhood," said Hamlet South resident Allen Amick.

But airport officials said only the FAA has the power to sanction
pilots.

"They are not going to change the way they do business until we complete
this study," Flack said.


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