A new sound monitoring system formally launched Friday morning to measure jet noise from flight operations at Burlington International Airport. The new $340,000 system comes in response to the 2019 arrival of a fleet of 20 F35 fighter jets at the Vermont Air National Guard base at the airport. The jets remain controversial because they are significantly louder than the F-16 jets they replaced. The airport is located adjacent to Vermont’s most densely populated residential neighborhoods.”We heard what the community wanted. We heard there needs to be transparency and openness as to what those noise levels are,” said Nicolas Longo, acting director of aviation at BTV.Though the Guard has repeatedly said it aims to fly routes which lessen the impact, some community members continue to be angered by the disruption. Longo notes that sound impacts are often subjective. The new system aims to change that. Two microphones are now in place at Winooski City Hall and at Chamberlin School in South Burlington. Each now measures actual decibel levels overhead and feeds that information back to a computer which overlays the noise measurement with a map tracking airport flight operations. A third sound monitoring unit is under construction on Industrial Avenue in Williston and is expected to be online in November.The three locations are under the flight path or within the high noise impact zone around BTV. The results the system generates are available in real-time on a new online portal for anyone can watch. “It’s online. And we’ll be presenting results at our airport commission meetings as well as the noise comments monthly as well,” Longo said.The website allows residents to comment on what they hear — or think they hear and is available at: https://publicportal.vector-us.com/?airportCode=KBTV.
A new sound monitoring system formally launched Friday morning to measure jet noise from flight operations at Burlington International Airport.
The new $340,000 system comes in response to the 2019 arrival of a fleet of 20 F35 fighter jets at the Vermont Air National Guard base at the airport.
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The jets remain controversial because they are significantly louder than the F-16 jets they replaced. The airport is located adjacent to Vermont’s most densely populated residential neighborhoods.
“We heard what the community wanted. We heard there needs to be transparency and openness as to what those noise levels are,” said Nicolas Longo, acting director of aviation at BTV.
Though the Guard has repeatedly said it aims to fly routes which lessen the impact, some community members continue to be angered by the disruption.
Longo notes that sound impacts are often subjective. The new system aims to change that.
Two microphones are now in place at Winooski City Hall and at Chamberlin School in South Burlington. Each now measures actual decibel levels overhead and feeds that information back to a computer which overlays the noise measurement with a map tracking airport flight operations.
A third sound monitoring unit is under construction on Industrial Avenue in Williston and is expected to be online in November.
The three locations are under the flight path or within the high noise impact zone around BTV. The results the system generates are available in real-time on a new online portal for anyone can watch.
“It’s online. And we’ll be presenting results at our airport commission meetings as well as the noise comments monthly as well,” Longo said.
The website allows residents to comment on what they hear — or think they hear and is available at: https://publicportal.vector-us.com/?airportCode=KBTV.
