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A Few Clouds Just how loud ARE those jets?
Malverne will soon be receiving its own plane noise meters
Given the number of airplane noise complaints registered by Malverne residents on social media, the questions that need answering seem to be, What is the current level of airplane noise in Malverne, and what is considered an “acceptable” level?
The village is currently unable to answer the first question, because it doesn’t have a noise meter. But that may be changing soon.
“One of them is coming to my house,” said Larry Hoppenhauer, Malverne’s representative at meetings of the Town-Village Aircraft Safety & Noise Abatement Committee. Hoppenhauer was told by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey that he would receive a noise meter in the near future.
“We’ll be installing his monitor in a few days,” confirmed Ed Knoesel, senior manager of environmental and noise programs in the aviation department of the Port Authority. Knoesel also said that JFK and LaGuardia currently have a total of 16 noise monitors, and that they are authorized to purchase another 16, which will be placed in locations that will provide a better understanding of the scope of the noise problem.
In the meantime, if the planes are keeping you up at night, and you’re wondering just how loud planes can be as they rattle the windows — and sanity — of those in their flight path, you can get a general idea from WebTrak, the Port Authority’s public, real-time tracking system, which monitors the noise level of every aircraft as it flies overhead.
Available at http://webtrak5.bksv.com/panynj4, WebTrak measures the decibel levels of flights coming into and going out of John F. Kennedy, LaGuardia, Newark and Teterboro airports as they pass over noise monitors. The system displays the name of the airline, the plane’s point of departure, its destination, its altitude and other information.
Examining WebTrak’s data for the early evening of Nov. 17, the Herald found that many planes regularly exceeded 55 decibels as they passed over or near portable and permanent monitors installed in both Queens and Nassau counties. According to the Federal Aviation Administration, 65 decibels is the loudest noise level a human can tolerate without suffering potential health issues.
