Evaluation of the effects of one year's operation of the dynamic preferential runway system

The FAA introduced an experimental aircraft operations program at JFK Airport called the Dynamic Preferential Runway System (DPRS) in the summer of 1971. The program is designed to distribute air traffic as equally as possible over the surrounding communities, to limit periods of continuous overflight and to vary the same hours of overflight from day to day. After a full year's operation, an evaluation was made of the system's effectiveness. All of the operation's goals were moderately achieved with the greatest relief in reduced overflight afforded the most heavily impacted areas. Few residents, however, were aware of DPRS or felt that it had greatly reduced annoyance or represented a major effort by the aircraft authorities. Statistical analyses of reported annoyance obtained from two independent surveys in 1969 and 1972 reveal limited reductions in annoyance in 1972, with shifts from reported high annoyance to moderate annoyance

Annoyance and acceptability judgements of noise produced by three types of aircraft by residents living near JFK Airport

A random sample of selected communities near JFK Airport were interviewed. Subsamples, with differing feelings of fear of aircraft crashes and different locations of residence were invited to participate in a laboratory experiment. The subjects were exposed to tape recordings of simulated flyovers of aircraft in approach and departure operations at nominal distances from the airport. The subjects judged the extent of noise annoyance and acceptability of the aircraft noises. Results indicate that level of noise is most significant in affecting annoyance judgements. Subjects with feelings of high fear report significantly more annoyance and less acceptability of aircraft noise than subjects with feelings of low fear

Research plan for establishing the effects of time varying noise exposures on community annoyance and acceptability

The design of a community noise survey to determine the effects of time varying noise exposures in residential communities is presented. Complex physical and human variables involved in the health and welfare effects of environmental noise and the number-level tradeoffs and time of day penalties are among the factors considered. Emphasis is placed on community reactions where noise exposures are equal in day or evening but differ in the night time, and the effects of ambient noise on more intense aircraft noise exposures. Thirteen different times of day and types of operation situations with exposed populations up to 8-10 miles from the airport are identified. A detailed personal interview questionnaire as well as specific instructions to interviewers are included

A comparison of a laboratory and field study of annoyance and acceptability of aircraft noise exposures

Residents living in close, middle and distant areas from JFK Airport were included in a field interview and laboratory study. Judgments were made of simulated aircraft noise exposures of comparable community indoor noise levels and mixes of aircraft. Each group of subjects judged the levels of noise typical for its distance area. Four different numbers of flyovers were tested: less than average for each area, the approximate average, the peak number, or worst day, and above peak number. The major findings are: (1) the reported integrated field annoyance is best related to the annoyance reported for the simulated approximate worst day exposure in the laboratory; (2) annoyance is generally less when there are fewer aircraft flyovers, and the subject has less fear of crashes and more favorable attitudes toward airplanes; (3) beliefs in harmful health effects and misfeasance by operators of aircraft are also highly correlated with fear and noise annoyance; (4) in direct retrospective comparisons of number of flights, noise levels and annoyance, subjects more often said the worst day laboratory exposured more like their usual home environments; and (5) subjects do not expect an annoyance-free environment. Half of the subjects can accept an annoyance level of 5 to 6 from a possible annoyance range of 0 to 9, 28% can live with an annoyance intensity of 7, and only 5% can accept the top scores of 8 to 9

Special analysis of community annoyance with aircraft noise reported by residents in the vicinity of JFK Airport, 1972

During the summer of 1972, about 1500 residents were interviewed twice in 11 communities near JFK airport. Detailed aircraft operations reports were also collected for this period, and an effort has been made to analyze recorded human response data in relation to a number of physical exposure parameters. A series of exposure indexes, based on an arithmetic integration of aircraft operations, were correlated with summated aircraft noise annoyance responses. None of these correlations were as good as the CNR index which assumes a logrithmetic integration of numbers of aircraft exposures and includes a day-night differential weighting of 10:1. There were substantial variations in average annoyance responses among communities with similar CNR exposures, substantiating previous findings that attitudinal and other personal variables also play an important role in determining annoyance differences