MarkE
Greetings, Professor Falken
http://www.dailybreeze.com/general-...n-a-mission-to-quiet-the-jet-noise-around-lax
So you guys deploy the TRs when you're feeling frisky huh?
So you guys deploy the TRs when you're feeling frisky huh?
Dan Delane, one of FedEx’s top pilots in Los Angeles, is something of an idealist. When it comes to flying, he likes to see things as they could be. And he thinks airplanes operating at Los Angeles International Airport can be quieter than they are today, using existing technology.
“I’m a one-man Don Quixote to make it happen,” he said recently in his LAX office overlooking the airfield’s southernmost runway.
Delane said airline pilots take more steps to reduce noise on nearby communities than most residents realize. He noted that it is standard LAX procedure to fly as high and as far off the coast as possible, and that pilots at all airlines are not permitted to deviate from approved courses.
At departure, he said, planes usually take off over the ocean and generally reach 12,000 feet before they are back over land.
But in recent months, Delane has taken further steps, asking FedEx pilots to be especially cognizant of noise whenever it is safe to do so. And that has won him kudos from many community activists, including Denny Schneider, president of the Alliance for a Regional Solution to Airport Congestion.
FedEx is a relatively small operator at LAX, with 16 arrivals and 16 departures on most days. But more than half of the package carrier’s flights occur at night, so Schneider said FedEx’s willingness to help the community is particularly important. Many of the noise-related changes could also save FedEx money by making the airplanes more efficient.
“I am thrilled to see that FedEx is working to be a good neighbor to the nearby communities and is working to protect our environment,” said Schneider, a consistent airport foe.
FedEx pilots, for example, try not to overuse the airplane’s auxiliary power units, small gas turbine engines mounted in the tail that can provide electricity on the ground. The systems can be noisy, so FedEx hooks up to electrical power at its gates, which are just off Imperial Highway. FedEx pilots only use the systems, called APUs, when they’re needed — such as just prior to push-back to provide power to start the main engines.
FedEx also employs what’s called “less than all engine taxi.” Most of the planes FedEx flies to LAX, such as the MD-10 and MD-11, have three engines, but, whenever possible, pilots taxi with only two, which cuts noise. Just before takeoff, farther from residential neighborhoods, pilots start the third engine. (On the A300, which has two engines, pilots try to taxi with only one.)
“Is it going to make the difference between waking someone up or not?” Delane said. “I don’t know. But why not try it?”
FedEx isn’t the only airline to take noise-lessening steps — other carriers try not to use their APUs and often employ “less than all-engine taxi” — but FedEx is somewhat unusual in its thrust reversal policy. Schneider said other airlines may use thrust reversers to stop faster, thus cutting taxi time. The more time it takes a plane to taxi to the gate, the longer it will take to load passengers on the next flight.
“What happens is a lot of times, when the pilots are feeling frisky, they hit their reverse and brakes and try to turn (off the runway) as early as they can,” Schneider said.
Delane, whose official title is MD-11 fleet check airman, also detailed FedEx’s approach procedures, designed to limit noise. Among them, pilots delay deploying landing flaps and landing gear for as long as possible. Delane said flaps add drag and slow the plane but require more thrust to compensate, so holding off on lowering flaps cuts noise considerably.
Upon landing, FedEx jets try to be particularly quiet, Delane said. Especially during the overnight hours, FedEx pilots should not use thrust reversers, unless absolutely necessary.
Thrust reversers divert an aircraft’s engine exhaust so it goes forward, rather than backward — a change that helps slow an aircraft without using brakes. But the process is loud, and it’s not always necessary in good conditions with long runways. It’s more necessarily on short runways or in wet conditions, Delane said.
On a recent sunny morning, Delane watched planes land and pointed out that many were deploying thrust reversers, creating a rumbling noise. He questioned whether other carriers needed thrust reversers for the landings.
“Hear that there?” Delane asked. “We’re in a soundproof room. You can hear it. So the proof is in the pudding.”
Schneider said the use of thrust reversers is a particular concern for nearby residents.
“It’s probably the loudest thing to impact us,” Schneider said. “The fact that they are working to not use those is a significant positive step.”
For his next project, Delane said he wants to change FedEx’s procedures for how airplanes take off on days when LAX reverses its runway operations. Usually airplanes take off to the west, over the ocean, but on certain days — generally because of weather — planes take off in the opposite direction, flying relatively low over residential neighborhoods.
Delane said it might be possible for FedEx airplanes to use a steeper climb when the airport reverses operations, so planes would reach 3,000 feet faster. He said he is working with high-level FedEx officials to change procedures.
Other pilots might not bother to take that step, but Delane said he wanted to work with neighborhood leaders to make things a little quieter.
“I see it as an opportunity to do right and make things better for the city,” he said. “Maybe that sounds silly. But why not? I want to think about how I can make things better.”
