New A380 at least as noisy as a 747,
Following a post on the Chiswick W4 site,I checked it out. I've got this reply from John Stewart today - Chair of HACAN Clearskies (the community campaign group of residents around Heathrow; do join if you havn't already).Cllr Ruth CadburyLB HounslowRuth, Rob,As it happened, I was in Brussels yesterday for the biannual meeting of theHACAN-type groups from around Europe. It is chaired by Martin Kessel, fromthe Frankfurt Group. He confirmed the story. Below is an account inEnglish.JohnA380 is louder than assumedMedia: Frankfurter RundschauAuthor: Wolfgang SchubertDate: 05 November 2005Fraport and expansion opponents present results of measurements/not testedin normal every-day conditionsThe Airbus A 380 was as loud as a Boeing jumbo jet 747 during the testlanding in Frankfurt a week ago. Moreover the [A380] causes dangerous wakevortices because of its size, communicated the German aircraft noisemonitoring organization on Friday in its measurement results. Fraportconfirmed the measuring data to a large extent.Frankfurt . "The shouts of joy [about the A380] are to be referred to theland of fairytales", said Sascha Friebe, chairman of the German aircraftnoise monitoring organization (DFLD). Lufthansa managers, airport CEOWilliam Bender, Minister President Roland Koch and Chief Burgomaster ofFrankfurt Petra Roth had talked about a "quiet giant bird" after the landingbefore 10,000 spectators last Saturday, which flew in "like a glider."The measurements of the aircraft noise service in Moerfelden Walldorf, whichconsiders itself as an "independent non--governmental organization" and ispredominantly organized in the airport development opposition, show theopposite. The mega-airplane, which should have been three to four decibelsquieter than the largest passenger airplane the Boeing 747-400 according tomanufacturer data, was as loud as other large-capacity aircraft during thelanding. The measuring instrument of DFLD registered 67 decibels overNeu-Isenburg south of Frankfurt.The noise might have been even stronger. On Friday airport operator Fraportsubmitted its own results of measurement, which are even higher than thoseof the DFLD. For Offenbach-Bieber Fraport indicated 70.3 decibels, inOffenbach-Lauterborn was it 71.8, in Frankfurt-South 75.3 and at level ofthe Stadtwaldhaus just before touch down 82.3. In comparative values with a747 plane, which had landed during the same morning, were only lower at theStadtwaldhaus. In Frankfurt-South and in Offenbach-Lauterborn the A 380 wassubstantially louderDuring takeoff, Fraport registered values that were below those of the 747.The Airbus however only weighed 400 tons. If it would be fully occupied fora flight to Tokyo and would have been refueled, the plane would have weighed560 tons and would have been much louder than the 65.7 decibels overRaunheim and the 74.5 over Weilbach.Fraport emphasized however that the measured values of only one landing andone takeoff of a prototype is not representative. The test plane was evenequipped with measuring instruments at the fuselage and the wings, whichwould have caused additional surge noises.The aircraft noise monitoring organization criticized also that the A 380was not tested under everyday life conditions. The air traffic control (DFS)granted the pilots "ideal landing conditions". The distance to the next jetfor instance was with ten miles so large that the A 380 could land "with lowspeed and therefore quietly". DFS spokesperson Axel Raab said, they hadopted for a large distance for safety reasons because of possibleturbulence.Those are extremely large according to data of the DFLD. The A 380 hascaused, "a good two minute tornado with noise values of about 70 decibels,"said Friebe. Such turbulence he has "never experienced". If the plane wouldhave flown very low over Raunheim, "the roofs would have blown off".Wolfgang Schubert
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