The Control of Aircraft Noise

1. Aircraft Noise—Its effect on people OF all the environmental noise sources, aircraft noise has received the most notoriety over the longest period of time. Aircraft noise is generally assumed to be a product of the jet age, but in 1939 in the United Kingdom, the Gorrell Committee on Control of Flying gave noise control the highest priority. However, it was not until post‐World War II that the public became disturbed by the continued high level of military aircraft operations, and this disturbance was aggravated by the rapid introduction of jet‐powered aircraft. Civil aviation developed rapidly and, as airports increased in size, and as aircraft movements doubled every five years, the surrounding communities expanded to the airport boundaries. These conditions of growth provided the ingredients for the aircraft noise problem. In the United Kingdom, all the major airports grew from military installations where little regard had been given to the environmental impact of these sites on the surrounding communities.