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Increase in aircraft noise over last half-year

T

TonyV

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Hello all,

I have been living in the Riverdale and Cabbagetown areas for the last 17 years and have gotten to know, pretty well, what kinds of noises to expect. Over the last 1/2 year, I have found that the really bothersome noise that comes from small aircraft has seriously increased. There are little turbo props and huge helicopters buzzing around, over the downtown residential communities, seemingly at all hours. I've been woken up at 3:00 a.m. from this type of noise.

How many of you have noticed the increase? I wonder if there are some regularly scheduled flights between Buttonville and the Island airport -- or something along those lines. Any intelligence out there on this matter?

I don't believe people living in the path of Pearson put up with the kinds of noises that turbo props and huge helicopters make; modern jet engineering has come a long way. But it would appear that those of us in the path of the Island airport are being subjected to something that is probably not even legal.

Anyone out there who has something to say about this? I've noticed a huge and very noisy orange helicopter hovering over downtown for what seems like hours on end, several times lately. And there are scads of those "rubber-band powered" airplanes that make more noise than they're frankly worth...their main point is actually just to bother people in their path.

I'd like to find out who is doing what. It's probably even illegal... No matter what, it's time to get something done about it. Where do we start.

BTW--I can't take the Community Air website seriously.
 
If that's the air ambulance that why is it hovering so long instead of making deliveries? I know what the air ambulance looks like because I used to work near the General / Sick Kids. This is more.
 
The entire Air Ambulance Fleet in Ontario was rebranded and made over as Ornge (ya...no a) back in summer '06. It's likely one of those that you're seeing since the Island Airport is home to three of the twelve copters in the province.

http://www.ornge.ca/
 
Thanks for that, so that's one source solved. Now on to those cheapy little noisemakers, the noisy little beggars that aren't helicopters.
 
There's no way that these planes are on approach to the Island airport since their takeoff and landing patterns are to the east and west. They're likely just air ambulances as mentioned and probably private planes perhaps just sightseeing over downtown.
 
I've been spending quite a bit of quality time across the Don in Riverdale, and I've noticed the same thing... there seems to be a lot more general aviation (read: small, non-commercial) traffic than I see by my place in the Annex.

I don't believe they're scheduled flights, Tony, though they could be chartered. It seems a good bet that anyone flying low over Riverdale isn't on their way anywhere in a hurry (as unimaginative pointed out, they're not in the process of taking off or landing). Planes that are on their way somewhere climb up and away from city pronto. In other words, they planes we're seeing are buzzing Toronto for the sake of it.

This means they could be doing anything from traffic-spotting to taking aerial surveys of city streets; learning to fly with students on board (both the Island and Buttonville have flight schools); or just seeing the sights. From time to time, I even see the WWII planes from the Hamilton museum flying over the city... they usually loop over Riverdale and Cabbagetown too.
 
I see/hear these air ambulances landing on top of St Mike's Hospital at least once every couple of weeks. And they do come from the direction of Regent Park/Cabbagetown in the east.
 
TonyV said:
I've noticed a huge and very noisy orange helicopter hovering over downtown for what seems like hours on end, several times lately. And there are scads of those "rubber-band powered" airplanes that make more noise than they're frankly worth...their main point is actually just to bother people in their path.
Click to expand...
Oh yes, that bloody orange helicopter, I know it well, having had my morning tea time disturbed by it's roar. The noisiest planes though by far are those float planes running up to Muskoka, since they must run at near full throttle just to stay in the air, and most of them are not turbo-props, but are radial-piston powered, with no mufflers. You may have a case if you complain (to who?), as the smaller civilian aircraft are not supposed to fly over the city until they reach altitude.

I have no problem with the old WW2 aircraft from Hamilton, and have on several occasions dashed outside to catch a glimpse of their Lancaster making a bombing run over Regent Park.

Now, I used to live in Mississauga, and in the summer you couldn't open your windows due to aircraft noise going to Pearson. That was noisy.
 
Admiral Beez said:
Oh yes, that bloody orange helicopter, I know it well, having had my morning tea time disturbed by it's roar.

I have no problem with the old WW2 aircraft from Hamilton, and have on several occasions dashed outside to catch a glimpse of their Lancaster making a bombing run over Regent Park.
Click to expand...
So air ambulances=bad, bombing Regent Park=good? Normally I wouldn't read anything into that comment but after seeing your martial law in the hood thread, I almost think you're serious.
 
Lancs were not always terribly accurate in their bombing runs. Beez may need to look into a shelter should the Regent Park redevelopment go this route.
 
MisterF said:
So air ambulances=bad, bombing Regent Park=good? Normally I wouldn't read anything into that comment but after seeing your martial law in the hood thread, I almost think you're serious.
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No worries, only a bit of humour. You wouldn't want to bomb Regent, since it's being rebuilt.

As for that air ambulance, I think aircraft used for frequent low altitude flight over urban areas should have mandatory silencing equipment. I've been to airshows where you can't hear anything of a helicopter except for the blade rotation, no engine noise whatsoever. There's no need for an air ambulance helicopter in the 21st century to sound like a 1950's MASH episode.

In Scotland, their air ambulance helicopters use "active noise reduction systems" to silence their helicopters http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helicopter_noise_reduction
 
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