A Complete Manual for Conducting International Flight Operations

Noise Abatement

Noise Abatement Procedures

Noise abatement procedures have become more strict and prevalent as population densities increase in the areas surrounding airports. In the United States we are fairly aware of what airports have curfews and noise abatement procedures. Internationally, however, flight crews must dig a bit deeper and should always assume, particularly in Europe, that some form of curfew or noise abatement procedure exists.

Noise Abatement Considerations

Pilots should consider the following recommendations prior to implementing their noise abatement procedures:

1

Should an emergency occur during the departure, the safety of the aircraft shall take priority over the noise abatement procedure and the noise abatement procedure will no longer apply.

3

The compliance of noise abatement procedures shall not compromise the requirement to climb and clear obstacles

2

Flex or reduced thrust departures shall not be utilized on runways that are contaminated, have crosswinds greater than 15 knots, have reduced visibility below 1 SM, or have received reports of wind shear in the vicinity.

4

Aircraft noise abatement procedures shall be conducted in reference to the established AFM procedure, airport procedure, NBAA recommended procedure, or JAA/EASA noise abatement procedures as appropriate.

Resources

Jeppview Flight Deck Reference Pages

The best place to start to determine if a noise abatement procedure exists is to start with the Reference Pages in Jeppview Flight Deck. Jeppesen tries to streamline all information for an aerodrome into the REF or reference pages.  Curfew hours, noise abatement procedures, and APU usage generally be found in the REF tab.

Planebook: Noise Information Manual (NIM)

Another source of information regarding noise restrictions may be found in Planebook. Planebook publishes the Noise Information Manual (NIM). The NIM has procedural information for hundreds of airports around the world. Although the NIM is very comprehensive, it is still the flight crewmembers' responsibility to determine the existence of airport noise restrictions. The NIM is an excellent resource in that it summarizes noise restrictions for individual airports and, in addition, it may specify maximum aircraft weights and specific aircraft configurations and departure procedures which may be required to meet the noise restrictions.

In the example to the right for Geneva, Switzerland there are several important notes, the first of which is APU operating restrictions. The second note is that G-IV, G-V type aircraft are prohibited from operating at this airport between the hours of 10:00 PM and 6:00 am.

 

The Noise Information Manual also specifies the Gulfstream IV is Stage 3 compliant and provides the warning that many international inspectors may require copies of the Noise Certificate upon inspection.

Noise Certificate

The document to the right  is an example of the G-IV Noise Certificate. This would be an appropriate document to present to an inspector verifying noise compliance.

 

Revision date: July 29, 2015

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The material contained on this site is to be used for reference  only. You should always follow your primary resources first (aircraft manuals, government regulations, etc.).

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