CAA: GA News, "Illinois airport officials and flight instructors to discuss reducing noise from planes"

["Stephen Irwin" <stepheni@cwnet.com>]

Saturday, April 29, 2000

Airport officials and flight instructors to discuss reducing noise from
planes
BY SHAMUS TOOMEY Daily Herald Staff Writer
Arlington Heights (IL) Daily Herald


A top Schaumburg Regional Airport official plans to meet with flight
instructors at the airfield today to discuss potential voluntary measures to
help alleviate noise that has drawn complaints from neighbors.

The meeting between airport administrator Mark Clements and the five
instructors at Northwest Flyers Inc. follows a meeting earlier this month on
the issue.

"It's just part of the ongoing conversation to look at additional things we
can do to mitigate noise, to be better neighbors," village Transportation
Director Leanne Redden said.

When pilots take off to the east, the typical path, they must turn north
before reaching Route 53 to stay clear of O'Hare International Airport's
airspace.

Schaumburg is suggesting pilots vary the altitude in which they turn north
to avoid creating a constant flight path over one cluster of homes,
Assistant Village Manager Brian Townsend said.

The typical altitude to turn is 600 feet. The village is suggesting turns at
700, 800 or 900 feet - heights that would also help to dissipate noise, he
said.

"These are not things we can mandate of pilots, but certainly we can ask for
their voluntary participation," Townsend said. "It's a suggestion we have.
We think the pilots can do it, but we want to get their feedback."

One other possibility is petitioning the Federal Aviation Administration to
allow right turns when departing either to the east or west, although
Townsend said "it's too early to say" if the village will proceed with that
request.

If right turns were allowed as the standard pattern, however, pilots would
not be able to turn left, the standard direction they turn now, meaning the
noise might just be shifted, officials said.

"It could just be moving it from one neighborhood to another," Redden said.
"It that a success? Is that a goal? I don't know."

Skip Barchfeld, president of Northwest Flyers, said today's meeting will be
a brainstorming session to try to come up with workable solutions.

"We're trying to be very pro-active," Barchfeld said. "We're very cognizant
of the noise complaints."


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