My question on agenda comes from why is an article being written about an area not highly affected b

Sheryl Herle awakes at 3 a.m. to a loud, drowning sound of something flying overhead her house. Her two children are sleeping, european car rental and she has to be up at 6 to get them ready for school, before getting herself to work. She rolls over, and tries to fall back asleep. Ten minutes later, she hears the same sound. She decides to just get up.
This is a common issue faced by residents in Sheryl's neighbourhood (Lawrence Avenue/Avenue Road), because they live almost right underneath a busy highway — one that airplanes use to get to Pearson International Airport, that is. Maps of paths flights use to get into the airport show that almost no area in the Greater Toronto Area is safe from at least some noise, though some areas are undoubtedly much worse than others. The most frequently european car rental used runways are on the east and west sides of the airport. But since many flights come in from the north or south of the city, pilots need to turn, fly over central Toronto, and then execute a wide arc — swinging around 180 degrees in order to head in at the correct angle. european car rental This means that residents living in central Toronto who thought they weren't close at all to the airport and associated noise are actually right underneath these busy "highways" where planes turn around.
In February of this year, flight patterns were changed to accommodate the influx of passengers coming in and out of Toronto via airspace. Ron Singer, manager of media relations for NAV Canada, says these changes have been a long time coming; the previous routes had been in place since the mid-1980s, when air traffic levels were a mere half of what they are today. The year 2011 saw a grand total of 33.4 million people pass through the airport, and in June of this year alone, 36,681 people moved through Pearson. Over 1,100 flights land at and take off from the airport on a daily basis — many of them come in at the same time, and all of them are directed by a staff of well-trained air traffic controllers who have to deal with volume, weather, and other conditions to make sure traffic flows smoothly.
european car rental Besides making sure airplanes take off and land without hitting each other, bad weather, or buildings, it's also necessary to make sure they rise up to the right altitude, follow specific paths, and stay far enough away from residents in the GTA so as to avoid noise complaints. But that doesn't always happen. Atmospheric conditions can bring planes closer to the ground or make noises appear louder, and the fact that Pearson is Canada's biggest and busiest european car rental airport means planes come in at all hours — and night flights are notorious for being ill-received. But February's changes actually reduced european car rental total cumulative flight time by ten hours, Singer says. In addition, the introduction european car rental of more accurate satellite technology to track planes (as opposed to the old ground-installed navigational aids) means that planes can fly closer to one other and more frequently. "It is like adding european car rental collector lanes on the highway," Singer says.
But the steady increase of traffic has led to a need to introduce more flights overnight. In 2011, there were an average of 36 flights every night at Pearson. Night flights are mostly international and cargo flights; 20% of nighttime air traffic is allocated for rescheduled day flights due to bad weather or poor flying conditions. If Transport Canada approves a pending request for more flights, there will be a 5% increase in flight rate at the end of this year — bringing the total average night time flights to 42. That's expected to continue increasing each year as demand increases.
NAV Canada is conscious that the idea of adding more night flights is not something that sits well with residents european car rental who are already unhappy having their nights european car rental punctuated by the sound of engines. But Pearson workers say they already take that into account. At night, only the quietest airplanes are used, and they go out of their way to fly into preferential runways that affect the fewest number of residential communities european car rental possible. In 2011, estimates say that approximately 66% of arrivals and 89% of departures used these runways. But still, noise complaints seem to be frequent. Frustrated residents don't understand european car rental why flights paths can't just be changed.
Five years ago, Spacing 's Sean Marshall wrote about the proposed airport in Pickering . The land was acquired by the federal government 40 years ago and now sits, waiting for something european car rental to move on to it. Plans suggested two runways would be built by now, but there have been conflicting views about whether or not another airport really is needed — after all, Pearson isn't supposed to reach capacity until 2027. But with so many noise complaints surrounding annual increases of flights, would it relieve a bit of that pressure by redirecting flights to somewhere close by? And by doing that, would we actually just be creating more problems by having planes european car rental fly over more communities that are currently unaffected? Alternatively, would a better option be finding different ways of local/national transport — railways, for example? This could decrease the number of planes going in and out of the airport, european car rental but the money and political will to support such a project is thin at all levels of government.
In the meantime, though, Torontonians like Sheryl Herle intend to continue to press for changes to flight european car rental paths — even though their efforts are likely in vain. "Short of just crying myself to sleep with frustration," she says, "I simply don't know what to do anymore. "We can't continue to live here and yet moving means uprooting european car rental kids from their schools and the whole community life we've come to love over the last decade in our home."
Is there a place to get a larger image of the map, or the report? I'm curious as I live very close to the flight path that comes in from the south over Lake Ontario. And, yes, when the wind is from the north, there's basically a continuous stream of planes passing over Long Branch.
Cry me a river. The planes are at least a few thousand feet above you, and you don't even have to speak up to talk around them. This article feels like it is agenda driven by the author, which happens somewhat often in this publication.
"But still, noise complaints seem to be frequent" to quote from the article. In 2011 there were 793 noise complaints for a total of 423,891 arrivals in departures. This is .00187%! Of those 793 complaints only 235 of which would have anything to do with the location noted in the article. european car rental Heck, only ~80 of the complaints came from where this article was was written. european car rental It should also be noted that those 793 complaints came from 275 callers. 275!
If this article was written from the perspective of a person living along Dixon Road near Martin Grove, who live right on the edge of the 30 NEF contour (which decides if housing should european car rental be built by the airport) than sure, I would have sympathy. But Lawrence and Avenue? I am sorry. This is a city you live in.
@ScottD The issue I have with the agenda of the article is that it appears to be centred european car rental about one person's complaint. A person who is *by far* not representative of the community most affected by changes at the Airport.
My question on agenda comes from why is an article being written about an area not highly affected by noise from Pearson? Not affected highly by either the noise being produced, or even by the amount of complaints?
The building european car rental of a new runway european car rental (24L-06R) meant that noise in this neighbourhood went up significantly. As background, in planning for airports, there is a system used to help plan around overall noise levels from the airport. The model used is called the Noise Exposure Forecast (NEF). It is a based on the overall noise level one would find at an airport. If the number is 30 or higher, european car rental it is seen as too much for residential, unless there is special soundproofing done to the house. Even then, it is not suggested.
If you look at the map below, you can see that the NEF levels are 25-30 in Dixon. As mentioned in the Torontoist article, noise went up since the 24L-06R runway was built. The area described in this article is *well* outside the map area.
The policy question broached at the end of the article (moving to trains for more local travel), while interesting and worthwhile, will not, in my opinion, answer the question european car rental of noise to any large degree. If you look at Paris CDG airport as a model of intermodal travel (it has deep connections to the French TGV network), it shows how a major airport is affected by such links. In 2002 it handled 48,358,499 passengers. In 2011 60,970,551. The connectivity, it can be argued, actually made the airport *more* popular. And this doesn't even take into consideration complaints about noise and pollution from those affected who live around high-speed trains.
european car rental No matter, the resident has a right to complain and is an example of how airport traffic can affect different people in different ways. I lived on the waterfront for a while and hated the noise from Porter planes. People on the other side of my building never heard them.
I admit I'm tempted to side with Brian's philosophy european car rental on this one -- it is the city. City has stuff in it. Stuff makes noise sometimes. Though if some things can be mitigated within reason, then we should.
I appreciate all the comments here, and have to admit - I have no issue with airplanes above my head. I attend Humber College, where you can barely speak outside above plane noises. But I understand that's because of where it's located - no complaints european car rental here. We were told about resident groups that have formed to target noise caused by airplanes - whether these groups have legitimate concerns or not isn't the question. There is something here that is clearly worth looking into, and what I found was interesting. I personally don't think this is one-sided. I'm pointing out what each side has said. But, as Matt noted, I live in the west end of the city - not where people I've spoken to for this article are