Being a lover of airplanes for over 55 years, I feel a bit... ummm... wrong in posting this complaint, but here it is anyway.

Living directly under the inbound/outbound flight path of an international airport has its advantages, especially for someone who loves airplanes. However, when some big-ass “heavy” flies over my house at 04:00-06:00 when I am just getting to sleep, well... I listen to them anyway!

Wait a minute... I thought I came here to com-plane...

Our office is on the departure path for IAH. Our lab has had results skewed before by a low flying 747 or A380 on a heavily overcast day. Rattles the walls a bit. Love it.

Our office is evidently on a flight training path. I love watching visitors' expressions when the fighters fly over.

I worked at a major international airport for a short period. Noise abatement was always a huge priority of course. We occasionally set up noise monitoring stations at locations we received complaints from.

One of them was a real head scratcher for me. A retired Southwest captain bought a house near the airport, and made complaints about the noise on a regular basis. I couldn't summon much sympathy for him, if anyone should know about the noise around an airport it's someone who made a career out of flying into that very same airport. Nothing ever came out of it because the noise levels were acceptable, but driving out there and checking that monitor was an obnoxious task that had to be done.

quote:

a real head scratcher

I have seen it enough times that I should not be surprised any more, but I am always puzzled by the geniuses who buy a house near an airport -- an airport that has been there for decades -- and then whine about airplane noise.

Kind of like buying a house in Florida and complaining about hurricanes, or cold weather in North Dakota, or tornados in Oklahoma.

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:

quote:

a real head scratcher

I have seen it enough times that I should not be surprised any more, but I am always puzzled by the geniuses who buy a house near an airport -- an airport that has been there for decades -- and then whine about airplane noise.

Kind of like buying a house in Florida and complaining about hurricanes, or cold weather in North Dakota, or tornados in Oklahoma.

From what I've seen, they buy a house near an airport and get it for substantially less than they'd pay in an area far away from the airport, then immediately start petitioning their neighbors to get the airport moved elsewhere.

And if they're successful, they've doubled the value of their house.

Pure genius.

quote:

Originally posted by Flash-LB:

they buy a house near an airport and get it for substantially less than they'd pay in an area far away from the airport, then immediately start petitioning their neighbors to get the airport moved elsewhere.

And if they're successful, they've doubled the value of their house.

Pure genius.

Hmmm . . . What should we do with all of that land that is no longer being used for the airport?

Let me think. OK, I've got it now. We can build a lot of low-cost public housing, and shelters for the homeless. Maybe a few drug re-hab centers. Yeah, and marijuana dispensaries. We can put all of that land to good use, no problem.

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:

quote:

a real head scratcher

I have seen it enough times that I should not be surprised any more, but I am always puzzled by the geniuses who buy a house near an airport -- an airport that has been there for decades -- and then whine about airplane noise.

Kind of like buying a house in Florida and complaining about hurricanes, or cold weather in North Dakota, or tornados in Oklahoma.

Similar to those that buy a house/property near an established gun range, then complain about the gunfire.

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:

...What should we do with all of that land that is no longer being used for the airport?...

Abandoned airfields in the US and So Pacific:

https://www.airfieldsfreeman.com/

For the OP:

https://www.airfieldsfreeman.c...ds_AL_Huntsville.htm

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:

quote:

a real head scratcher

I have seen it enough times that I should not be surprised any more, but I am always puzzled by the geniuses who buy a house near an airport -- an airport that has been there for decades -- and then whine about airplane noise.

Kind of like buying a house in Florida and complaining about hurricanes, or cold weather in North Dakota, or tornados in Oklahoma.

Similar to those that buy a house/property near an established gun range, then complain about the gunfire.

And to compound the problem, you are NOT allowed to shoot them.

We live very near a TVA dam. The local ANG copters use the river/lake and the dam as part of their navigation points on the training loops or runs. So at least once a week we get a pretty low overflight of two or three military copters. Only once in 23 years of living here was it bad enough (like almost rattling things off the shelves) to bitch about. We have a friend who is part of that ANG and so we told him and he relayed the message to a commander. They still fly the same path, just one or two hundred feet higher than they were before...
When the girls were really little, we would all run out onto the deck and watch them go overhead.

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Similar to those that buy a house/property near an established gun range, then complain about the gunfire

Exactly what happened to Best of the West range in Liberty Hill.

I love living under the departure path for Miramar after they've turned east and the route between the MCAS and Pendleton.

I also know what a POS sounds like and it starts with "F" followed by "18" (says the retired F-14 guy ).

quote:

Originally posted by Sigmund:
<<snip>>
For the OP:

https://www.airfieldsfreeman.c...ds_AL_Huntsville.htm

Thanks for posting that; I found it incredibly interesting!

I moved to Huntsville in 1962 and have lived here ever since. I remember the old Huntsville airport (called Huntsville airport #2 on that page), but never had heard of the very first one! After the newest one opened west of town, I spent many years flying R/C airplanes off of the west end of the east/west runway behind the National Guard Armory. Fond memories attached to that place!

The buying and then complaining isn't confined to just airfields. I belong to a "jeep club". we own a 67 acre exhausted gravel pit which we use to put on races and play in. We had idiots who bought their dream house and then complained about the noise one weekend a year. Our only comment was "we were here before you". That didn't shut them up one bit. Its their house and they have right to enjoy it. We've even had the suggestion we sue them for being stupid. I don't know if that's a cause of action or not.

The sheriff's office has been pretty good about it over the decades. There's also an paved dragstrip up the river a bit (Edgewater). They had money and fought it. They operated every weekend and the stupid buyers didn't have any luck. Of course it helped to hire off duty deputies to provide security. I don't know how that will work with a new Lesbian sheriff. Those Ohio folks never did have any sense.

Big Arsed Airplanes are the main reason I am deef.

Just heard a really loud and low “Big-Arse Airplane” overhead. Turns out it was a Nightwatch-Doomsday E-4 Air Force plane (Boeing 747).

It flew up from San Antonio and shot 4 Approaches on Will Rogers Airport, but did none at Tinker AFB. I live about 10 or 11 miles North of Will Rogers and under the fly path for North to South planes going to Will Rogers. I’m something like 15 miles NW of Tinker AFB. Flew right over my house at roughly 3,000 feet.

Now it’s headed South, back into Texas. There are 4 of these E-4 planes, home base is Omaha. I’ve seen them fly from Omaha to OKC, shoot some approaches to Will Rogers, then go back home to Omaha.

We don’t get a lot of 747 aircraft here but when we do, I know their sound, very loud and low.

Pretty cool!
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My office sits under part of the approach pattern for aircraft coming in to Hill Air Force Base. I absolutely love listening to the F-35s. And my office mates tease me a bit when I jump up and run out the back door when I hear something different. Being a depot for several airframes and a nice hop from Utah test & training range allows for a bit of variety in aircraft from time to time.
s.

I used to live in Long Beach NY and that city is on the approach path to JFK airport.

When the Concorde was still flying, we could always tell when it was approaching.
The sound was louder and different from any other aircraft.

There was a regular Concorde flight that arrived around 10:30 AM or so daily and you would hear it before you could see it.

Used to live in Bellevue, Ne. (Just south of Omaha). Former SAC HQ, 24/7, 365 day and night B-52’s…it was beautiful, so big and graceful, they looked like they were just hanging in the air.