WHAT WE ARE WORKING ON: 6 IDEAS
BEING FAIR ABOUT THE AIRCRAFT NOISE
1. Have Sanford Tower direct non-jets away from entering the High Noise Box, thereby spreading the noise out among the various neighborhoods. All jet arrivals and departures use this airspace and that cannot be changed. This would remove the smaller and practice aircraft noise from the neighborhoods that will always experience the highest and most noise. This box extends 3.5 miles east and west of runway 9L/27R thresholds and north to the bottom of Lake Monroe.
2. When weather permits, which is most of the time, have Central Florida TRACON vector arrival jets for a visual approach, rather than RNAV or ILS approach. Rather than always flying the same straight-in path crossing I-4, this will vary where and when the jets make their inbound turn to the airport, thereby spreading out arrival noise between different neighborhoods, instead of always the same ones.
3. Have Central Florida TRACON assign jet departures 4000 or 5000 feet of altitude on takeoff, thereby reducing departure noise and getting jets up and away from student traffic. Current default altitude on departure is 2000 feet and no turn on course.
4. Restrict practice aircraft to the smaller, southern runway. This policy was in effect 18 years ago.
5. Have inbound jets on final approach use Flaps3 instead of Flaps4. Less flaps = less noise = faster arrival.
6. Coordinate with the Sanford Tower for a "Calm Wind Runway" designation of RWY27R. This would slightly decrease arrivals to RWY9L, which has the highest noise, and move that traffic to the other end of the runway, RWY27R. This would spread the jet noise to about 50/50 for RWY9L and 27R. Wind history shows this part of Florida is "calm wind" about 18% of the time. This policy was in effect 18 years ago.
*Please be aware that safey is always the first consideration. Air traffic controllers and pilots will always continue to have complete discretion. Also, these are just thumbnails of policies that would benefit from thought and discussion.