More about night-time noise at Sea-Tac

There are plenty of flights in & out of Sea-Tac during the hours midnight to 6 a.m., according to data furnished by the Airport’s noise office for the period 15 March – 5 April 2010.  Yesterday’s post pointed out that the worst offender is FedEx, flying very noisy, almost-obsolete aircraft.  Today, we report on the total number of midnight to 6 a.m. flights. 

SUMMARY

            On average, there are 24 NOISE-creating arrivals or departures every night from midnight to 6:00 a.m. at Sea-Tac Airport. 

PERIOD SURVEYED:  15 MARCH  TO 5 APRIL 2010 

Night flight events (Arrival or Departure) Midnight to 6:00 a.m. 

15 - 31 March                          415 flight events

1 – 5 April                                114 flight events

Total, 15  March -5 April         529 events

 

22 days, Average 24 events per night (midnight - 6 a.m.) 

Low 14 , High 33 , average 24 events

* * * 

The sample period seems to RCAA to be reasonably reflective of the whole year.  The data are not skewed by unusual demand (a major travel holiday or the Christmas rush), nor by events (such as unusual bad weather) that would cause big delays, missed / cancelled flights, or the like. 

It may also be noted that regularly-scheduled flights do not always arrive at just the scheduled minute.  Some are scheduled very close to midnight or 6 a.m.  Some of these occasionally arrive just within the midnight – 6 a.m. time frame, & sometimes just outside it.  This is largely responsible for the fluctuation between the nightly low of 14 operations & the nightly high of 33.  These flights at the very edges of the midnight - 6 a.m. period do not appear to generate as many complaints as are caused by the isolated flights at 3 & 4 in the morning.