Sound Off!

Caltrans’ division of aeronautics has established guidelines to control the amount of noise generated over residential areas by aircraft using the state’s airports. Under those guidelines, any area exposed to an average Community Noise Equivalent Level of more than 65 in a year is considered to be noise-impacted.

To comply with those regulations, John Wayne Airport has set up nine stations at locations in Newport Beach, Santa Ana, Tustin and Irvine to monitor noise levels. Some stations are on private property and others on public land, at the following locations:

MONITOR STATIONS M-1: 2139 Anniversary Lane, Newport Beach M-2: 1907 Tradewinds Lane, Newport Beach M-3: 2601 Vista del Oro, Newport Beach M-5: 17952 Beneta Way, Tustin M-8: 1131 Back Bay Drive, Newport Beach M-9: 1300 S. Grand Ave., Santa Ana M-10: Golf Course, 3100 Irvine Ave., Newport Beach M-11: 20152 S.W. Birch St., Santa Ana M-14: 17372 Eastman St., Irvine

The stations monitor the noise levels on a daily basis. The average daily levels, which are also averaged for each month, are “the result of a computer analysis based on county-provided data including flight tracks, actual traffic counts, average SENELs (Single Event Noise Exposure Levels) by aircraft model and recorded CNEL values for each monitor station,” according to the quarterly report from the airport’s noise abatement office.

COMMUNITY NOISE EQUIVALENT LEVELS

Monthly averages: January-March, 1990 *

Month M-1 M-2 M-3 M-5 M-8 M-9 M-10 M-11 M-14 January 63.6 56.8 50.4 52.4 55.0 50.9 64.8 63.1 64.8 February 64.3 57.7 51.7 54.2 56.0 48.9 65.4 64.1 65.5 March 65.0 57.9 55.5 55.1 56.6 46.8 65.4 64.6 66.0

* Most recent data available

TELEPHONE COMPLAINT CALLS

January-March, 1990

The airport’s noise abatement office logs noise complaints from local citizens. During the first quarter of 1990, the office received 413 noise complaints from local citizens, an 20% decrease from the number of complaints received the previous quarter and a 35% decrease compared to the first quarter of 1989.

Source: John Wayne Airport