Quiet Communities, Inc. Conference - Aviation Noise, Pollution and Health:
Connecting the Dots - June 16, 2022

As part of their "Quest for Quiet" lunchtime conference series, Quiet Communities Inc. is sponsoring a free online conference, "Aviation Noise, Pollution, and Health: Connecting the Dots." It is scheduled for Thursday June 16, 2022, from 12:00 to 2:30 PM ET (9:00 to 11:30 AM PDT), As stated on their website,

Aviation noise and pollution pose threats to human health and well-being, according to decades of scientific studies. Research ties noise from commercial flights, general aviation, military aviation and helicopter traffic to sleep disruption, stress, cardiovascular issues, mental health problems, learning challenges, productivity and quality of life. Leaded fuel used in small planes threatens communities with neurotoxic harm.

Additional information about the program agenda, speakers and registration is available here.

Excerpts from a report by Jamie Banks, the President of Quiet Communities Inc., identify a number of the harmful impacts of aviation noise and pollution.

Of all sources of transportation noise, aviation noise is considered the worst.

Decades of research show that noise and pollution from transportation in general, and aviation in particular, are harmful to health. Especially vulnerable are airport workers, children, seniors and those with pre-existing conditions.

      • Aircraft noise disrupts activities and sleep and causes stress responses that increase high blood pressure, and the risks of heart disease, stroke, and mortality. Seniors affected by aircraft noise are more likely to have heart disease and be hospitalized. Low frequency noise and nighttime aviation noise are especially hazardous. A recent study showed that quieter skies during the pandemic improved cardiovascular health.
      • Aircraft noise can contribute to anxiety and depression.
      • Aircraft noise negatively affects children's learning and cognitive development. A ten-year study of students from 6000 schools near 46 major US airports by the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine found that aircraft noise was responsible for lower standardized test scores. Installing sound insulation in a subset of those schools reversed the effect.
      • Noise has been associated with the development of dementia.
      • Noise is an environmental stressor, diminishing environmental quality, damaging fragile ecosystems, and contributing to loss of biodiversity.
      • All of these impacts come with substantial economic costs. Cardiovascular disease and stroke cost the nation $350 billion annually in direct medical costs and work productivity losses. While not all of these costs can be attributed to noise, lowering environmental noise just 5-decibels generates annual savings of $4 billion in medical costs by reducing the prevalence of hypertension and coronary artery disease.

The FAA's common reference to noise as "an annoyance" trivializes its serious health impacts. No one affected by aviation noise refers to it as "an annoyance" but rather, uses words like "assault," and "torture." The impacts they describe are consistent with what has been reported in the scientific literature and include deteriorating mental and physical health, anxiety, depression, anger, exhaustion, fear; disrupted sleep, work, concentration, and communication.

      • Aircraft emissions contain known carcinogens including volatile organic compounds and fine and ultrafine particulate matter. Fine particulate matter also causes diseases ranging from lung and heart disease to cancer, reproductive and developmental disorders, and premature death. It has also been linked to a higher risk of dementia.
      • Aviation emissions are associated with higher rates of cancer, lung, and heart disease and increased hospital admissions for adults and children.
      • Like noise, air pollution is an environmental stressor, diminishing environmental quality, damaging fragile ecosystems, and contributing to loss of biodiversity.

 

Screenshot of Hillsboro Airport Flight Tracks Captured on 06-08-2022

 

The ADS-B screenshot above provides an example of the impact of airports on local communities. It depicts flight tracks on June 8, 2022 during an 8 1/2 hour interval between 7:00 am and 3:30 pm. This is a typical occurrence that often starts in the early morning hours and extends into the night time not just at the Hillsboro Airport (HIO), but at many airports throughout the U.S.

The majority of aircraft shown in this picture are flying in and out of HIO, which is in Washington County, the second most populated county in Oregon. This general aviation airport, which is surrounded on three sides by residential communities and on the fourth by prime farmland, is used primarily by flight training schools - Hillsboro Aero Academy, ATP and Hagele Aviation as well as private pilots.

The heavy and unrelenting nature of the air traffic helps to explain why HIO is ranked eighth in the nation among 20,000 airports in lead pollution. It is also a significant source of intrusive noise and other toxic and carcinogenic pollutants.

Many of the thick, bright orange flight tracks in the upper center of the picture are produced by pilots performing low altitude touch-and-go maneuvers as well as take-offs and landings at HIO. The smaller cluster of orange aircraft to the south are flying out of Stark's Twin Oaks, 6 miles south of HIO. It, too, is a general aviation, flight training airport. The names of various towns including Forest Grove, Banks, North Plains and others are completely buried under the tangle of flight tracks to the west, north and south of HIO and Stark's Twin Oaks - tracks generated by the student and private pilots that often relentlessly circle and loop over homes and neighborhoods for hours on end.

Despite the known adverse health and environmental impacts discussed above, very little, if anything, is done on a federal, state or local level to protect community members from this daily onslaught of noise and pollution. There are multiple other airports, not shown on this map, within a 25 mile radius of HIO, including Portland International 15 miles east. In addition, Scappoose Airpark, located 14 miles north, also engages in flight training as does McMinnville, 22 miles south. This insures that residents throughout the area are routinely deluged in multiple doses of noise, lead, and other pollutants.

Sadly, residents throughout the U.S. experience environmental degradation and serious health risks as a result of the excessive noise and pollution generated by the thousands of toxic airports in this country.

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