No relief from aircraft noise for Albufeira residents

New take-off procedures may reduce the noise heard at ground level in Quarteira and Vilamoura, from aircraft taking off from Faro Airport.

Fernando Dutra, responsible for Faro airport’s control tower, was at an information giving session held by the National Civil Aviation Authority, held in Faro on Monday April 1st.

These new flight procedures, which are not expected to be completed until at least the end of 2019, may mean that aircraft departing in a westerly direction will turn over land later than currently – around 5 kilometers from Quarteira – higher and having less noise impact.

“We think it will be good news for the population of Quarteira,” said Luís Miguel Ribeiro, ANAC president.

This does not help the residents of Albufeira who have been involved in a bitter email campaign to halt flights directly over the city.

The National Civil Aviation Authority’s stance at least is clear, aircraft will continue to fly over the historic center of Albufeira, on their downward path to Faro Airport.

The Authority was at the session to respond to the thousands of email complaints from Albufeira residents, that have been arriving, “in a systematic and uninterrupted way” in its mailbox.

It was explained that, “the current approach trajectory had been studied in detail, it is followed by the aircraft autopilot, and that, even if it were possible to make a detour, this would increase fuel consumption, cause greater environmental impact and be less safe for the aircraft.”

Luís Miguel Ribeiro, president of ANAC, continued that the Albufeira problem is that, ??’it is not a question of choice, but of calculation. This is the optimal route that minimises pollution and impacts to the environment. In addition, according to all flight plans, airplanes always fly over this area at more than 1,000 metres altitude,” and “comply with all overflight rules defined both nationally and internationally.”

One Albufeira resident, Ana Maria Scheckenberg, was not convinced by the official explanation and said that the aircraft seem to fly a lot lower than 1,000 metres, over schools and the historic centre, leaving a wave of pollutants to drift down to ground level.

COMMENTARY:

You wrote : “…. that aircraft always fly over Albufeira at more than 1,000 metres altitude, is nonsense.”

There are several publicly available aircraft monitoring sites that show that passenger aircraft never fly anywhere near Albufeira when the wind is from the west (the prevailing direction) and when it is from the east, they are almost always above 1000 metres. Please see the records below, which I recorded a week or two ago which details every passenger flight that overflew closer than 5 km from Albufeira on three successive days.

While I respect people’s right to seek a pleasant environment, they forfeit any rights when they make claims that are manifestly false.

Compare the attached graphic that I just captured a minute ago. It shows the area to the west of Heathrow, which today is landing and taking off to the east.

Albufeira is 26 km from Faro; Windsor is 8 km from touchdown at Heathrow. In the attached graphic a United Airlines jet inbound to Heathrow has just passed Windsor at a height of 1675 ft or less than half the altitude of those flying over Albufeira inbound to Faro. Albufeira has a population of 43,000; Windsor has a population of more than 200,000. Heathrow has an average of 1,300 movements per day; today, there are just 92 passenger flights scheduled to land at Faro.

As they are landing and taking off to the west, not one of them will overfly Albufeira.

One quarter of the noise per aircraft (Physics : inverse square law at twice the height).
One fifth as many people affected.
One fourteenth as many flights per day.

Equals a ‘two hundred and eightieth’ of the problem. Are Albufeira residents 280 times more important than Windsor residents? They apparently think so.

I really think the good burghers of Albufeira must be stuck for something to worry about if all they can think about is such a tiny fraction of the impact on the residents of Windsor (where the Queen lives some of the time and probably doesn’t have double glazing in the castle).

COAA

Record of passenger aircraft that passed within 5 km of overhead Albufeira

17th March. Aircraft landing and taking off to the west. On arrival they all route well to the east of Faro. On departure they turn north well before Albufeira. During the period, the only two flights to pass within 5km of overhead Albufeira were at 34,000 ft and 37,000 ft.

JAF7YK EC-MQH GCFV-LFPG A320 FL340 at 19-03-17 17:31:50 UTC
LAN713 .NO-REG FL370 at 19-03-17 23:05:44 UTC

18th March. Aircraft landing and taking off to the east. On departure they fly east from Faro and turn north. On arrival they cross the coast to reach
a final approach fix well out to sea at an altitude of 3000 ft. During the whole day, only two aircraft were slightly lower than the nominal 3000 ft
when they passed within 5 km of Albufeira – not necessarily directly over the town. Most were significantly higher than 4000 ft (1200 m).

TAP1452 CS-TNV LPPT-GMMX A320 FL339 at 19-03-18 09:56:44 UTC
EZY54KL G-EZOI EGGD-LPFR A320 4575′ at 19-03-18 10:05:39 UTC
EZY2019 G-EZFX EGGW-LPFR A319 3425′ at 19-03-18 10:07:58 UTC
TAP1907 CS-TNW LPPT-LPFR A320 3625′ at 19-03-18 10:30:14 UTC
RYR9XX EI-FRW EGGP-LPFR B738 4700′ at 19-03-18 10:54:49 UTC
EZY25UW OE-INH EGKK-LPFR A320 2775′ at 19-03-18 11:06:45 UTC
EXS49PA G-JZBA EGSS-LPFR B738 4675′ at 19-03-18 11:30:42 UTC
EXS8FW G-JZHX EGCC-LPFR B738 4975′ at 19-03-18 12:00:29 UTC
EZY78GN OE-IJE LFMN-LPFR A320 4750′ at 19-03-18 12:12:49 UTC
EZY48RG OE-IVU LFBD-LPFR A320 4650′ at 19-03-18 13:29:46 UTC
NAX8BU LN-DYE ENGM-GCRR B738 FL390 at 19-03-18 13:36:41 UTC
TVF81TX F-GZHZ LFPO-LPFR B738 4825′ at 19-03-18 13:40:02 UTC
RYR420P EI-DWF EGSS-LPFR B738 FL050 at 19-03-18 15:02:46 UTC
RYR5791 EI-DPH EDDB-LPFR B738 4925′ at 19-03-18 16:09:06 UTC
BAW92F G-EUYF EGKK-LPFR A320 2900′ at 19-03-18 16:28:10 UTC
LDM3160 EI-EKN EDDL-LPFR B738 4400′ at 19-03-18 16:40:22 UTC

19 March. Once again, unusually, aircraft were landing and taking off to the east during the morning. When passing within 5 km of Albufeira, none of them was below 3000 ft.

TAP9700 CS-TTU A319 3500′ at 19-03-19 10:19:19 UTC
TAP1907 CS-TNL LPPT-LPFR A320 3550′ at 19-03-19 10:29:15 UTC
BEL1FR OO-SNB EBBR-LPFR A320 3825′ at 19-03-19 11:33:58 UTC
EXS8FW G-JZHX EGCC-LPFR B738 3750′ at 19-03-19 11:54:27 UTC
EXS74MP G-JZBM EGBB-LPFR B738 4675′ at 19-03-19 12:31:15 UTC
EZY62EN G-EZBH EGMC-LPFR A319 3300′ at 19-03-19 12:51:39 UTC

https://www.coaa.co.uk/