Too noisy for neighbors

Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2005 | 8:44 a.m.

* The noise study can be found online: www.mccarrannoisestudy.com.

* For more information, call 225-5634.

Some area residents have long complained that noise from airplanes taking off and landing at McCarran International Airport makes it difficult to hear their televisions or to get a good night's sleep.

With the number of flights continuing to grow, airport, county and federal officials -- who realize that for other reasons they, too, may not sleep well until the problem is alleviated -- are searching for ways to reduce the complaints about jet noise.

After measuring jet noise at various points around the county, the Federal Aviation Administration, Clark County and McCarran officials are looking at re-routing flights to accommodate the increasing air traffic while trying to minimize noise. The noise-reduction plan is to be voted on by the County Commission in June.

Part of that process involves the county's Aviation Department's Public Working Group, which allows residents to weigh in with concerns and complaints about airplane noise.

About 20 people attended the second of three open houses Wednesday at the County Government Center, where displays depicted arrival and departure patterns, the sound levels of jets over neighborhoods and future projections.

The third open house is scheduled for May 24.

At last week's meeting, Nevada Trails residents Ed and Mary Spicer ought relief at their home near Rainbow Boulevard and Robindale Avenue.

"I don't understand why they are flying so low over homes," Mary Spicer said, adding that she can read the lettering on planes that fly over her back yard.

Ed Spicer complained that while he was watching a World Series game last month, there were numerous times when he could not hear the TV because of the planes overhead.

"They rattled the windows," he said.

Irene and Paul Albrecht, who live south of the airport, complained that smaller twin-engine planes sometimes make more noise than the jetliners -- and very early in the morning, no less.

Jeff Jacquart of the Aviation Department explained that pilots updating their training often use McCarran's runways at 3 a.m. when fewer flights are arriving to practice touch-and-go takeoffs and landings.

"It's the only time the pilots can train because the airport is so busy," he said.

Jacquart and other airport officials said that by 2017, airlines will be using quieter jet engines -- a fact of little comfort to nearby residents who do not relish the idea of tolerating 12 more years of excessive noise.

The FAA and the county also are studying ways to restrict flights to air corridors above Interstate 15 or uninhabited areas of the valley.

But as the numbers of landings and takeoffs increase, some property currently not within the noise boundary will wind up within the new boundaries north and east of the airport, Jacquart said. That possibility is under review by the FAA.

Sunrise Hospital and Children's Medical Center, for example, are shown within the projected noise boundary for 2017.

The FAA considers 65 decibels a "significant" noise, and at 75 decibels or more, the noise is considered "severe." While 65 decibels is the level that might be found on a busy street, the noise of a jet taking off is about 140 decibels.

The county and the FAA hope to protect homes, hospitals, schools, nursing homes and churches from noise levels of 75 decibels and up, Jacquart said. Such noise levels might warrant a buyout of the property by the county, officials said.

Other measures that officials could take to reduce the noise in the airport's flight paths include soundproofing.

"We're asking the public for suggestions," said Adrian Jones of Ricondo and Associates Inc., a firm helping to gather and analyze the noise information for the airport. McCarran officials began studying the problem in 1988 as Las Vegas began its population boom.

While the maps and charts at the meetings provided a glimpse into current and future noise problems as McCarran continues to grow, some residents at last week's meeting felt inundated by statistics.

"It's a little hard to understand," said John Hiatt, a member of the Enterprise Town Board, which represents the area south and west of McCarran.

One woman from Spring Valley west of the airport studied the numerous maps and concluded: "There's no good place to live anymore."

Karyl Dennison, a Nevada Trails resident, had a different take.

"Noise is just part of life," she said, noting that her husband has his own solution.

After working for 44 years at the Nevada Test Site's tunnels where underground nuclear weapons experiments were conducted and later at Yucca Mountain, the proposed nuclear waste repository, Dennison is hard of hearing.

"When the planes come over, I take my hearing aids out," he said.

Mary Manning can be reached at 259-4065 or at [email protected].