Community Noise Reduction Using Continuous Descent Approach: A Demonstration Flight Test at Louisville

Abstract

A flight demonstration test was conducted at the Louisville International Airport (KSDF) by a research team comprised of personnel from the Boeing Company, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the Regional Airport Authority (RAA) of Louisville and Jefferson County, and United Parcel Service (UPS). The purpose of the test was to evaluate and demonstrate the noise-reducing potential at KSDF of the Continuous Descent Approach (CDA) procedure. To this end, flyover noise measurements were taken for eight days during the two-week period from October 29, 2002 through November 9, 2002. For most of the eight days, two events (a standard approach and the CDA approach) were recorded by fourteen microphones located at seven different sites (two microphones per site) in the community of Floyds Knobs, Indiana. The measurement sites were chosen to be under or close to the planned flight path and spread out far enough to cover most of the region where differences in noise levels between the CDA and conventional procedure were expected. Reductions of 3 to 6 dB in peak A-weighted noise levels were observed during two weeks of testing. Noise measurements were later used to evaluate various noise prediction methods. This is the first such test in the US executed through a collaborative effort among government, manufacturer, airport, and operator.