Double noise north of airport

PEOPLE living north of Sydney Airport will be dealt a double dose of noise as a result of a controversial runway safety upgrade, as up to 69 extra flights a day thunder over their homes and they lose hour-long respite periods in the early morning, late evening and at weekends.

The dramatic increase in aircraft movements - as high as 71 per cent in parts of the inner west and lower North Shore - is expected to last for eight months, beginning in October, and then continue at a slightly reduced level for a further 10 months.

The "worst case scenario" details are contained in the airport's draft plan for the $85 million extension of the safety area at the Cooks River end of the east-west runway. The plan went on public display yesterday.

"It's back to 17 hours a day, non-stop noise if you are immediately north of the airport … People are going to be furious about this," the president of No Aircraft Noise, Allan Rees, said.

New rules require the airport to increase the safety area to 90 metres to deal with a plane overshooting the runway.

The complexities of extending the safety area over the M5 East tunnel and the city's largest sewer pipeline mean the runway has to be closed or restricted from October until April 2010.

Under the plan, which requires approval from the Minister for Infrastructure, Anthony Albanese, average daily plane movements above suburbs such as Marrickville and Sydenham could climb from 143 to 212. Residents in those suburbs used to having up to half of their weekday mornings between 6am and 7am free of plane noise will be stripped completely of the quiet spells.

Respite periods between 8pm and 11pm, which currently occur up to 33 per cent of the time, will fall to zero.

"It's a complete disgrace," said the Mayor of Marrickville, Dimitrios Thanos. "It's a failure of the Government to get the airport to take the issues the residents of Marrickville have seriously."

In suburbs around East Ryde and Lane Cove, average daily flight movements will jump from 97 to 165. Noise-free periods will plummet.

But there will be no flights over suburbs around Rockdale, and there will be fewer flights over parts of the eastern suburbs and Kurnell.

The Mayor of Lane Cove, Ian Longbottom, said the burden of noise should be shared equally with all suburbs around the airport. "I feel that we are going to get shafted," he said. The Mayor of Ashfield, Ted Cassidy, said more flights should be directed over the sea and cargo planes shifted to Canberra Airport.

Sydney Airport apologised to affected residents but said it had to comply with the Civil Aviation Safety Authority rules.

"Sydney Airport has no interest in seeing one of its runways not in full operation," the airport's chief executive, Russell Balding, said.

No new residents would be affected by aircraft noise and the 11pm to 6am curfew and cap of 80 aircraft movements per hour into and out of the airport would remain in place.

Mr Albanese, whose electorate of Grayndler will be affected by the extra noise, welcomed the release of the draft plan, which is be open for public comment until June 18.

"I made it clear that Sydney Airport must properly consult with residents about the project, and minimise the period of runway closure and the consequential temporary interruption of noise-sharing arrangements," he said.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/double-noise-north-of-sydney-airport/2008/03/19/1205602483714.html