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Airport gets funding for noise monitoring
By Peter Jones
Centennial Airport has been awarded a $1.5 million federal grant to purchase a high-tech noise-monitoring system. The airport received official word on July 1 from the office of Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colorado.
“Centennial consistently ranks among the busiest small airports in the nation, and it is a major economic driver and job creator in the region,” Udall said. “It's critical to keep Centennial strong, and I'm proud to have supported funding for this grant."
Centennial Airport will need to raise an additional $200,000 to fully pay for the equipment, which will likely be in place by the end of the year, according to the airport’s executive director Robert Olislagers.
He says the sophisticated equipment, utilizing radar technology, will help airport officials more accurately gauge noise produced by airplanes as they land and take off at the increasingly urban facility.
“It will help us review what the noise exposure is, in terms of actual decibels, so that we’ll actually have scientific measurements, as opposed to an individual saying the aircraft was loud,” Olislagers said.
Noise emitting from the airport in unincorporated Arapahoe County has been an ongoing concern among many area residents in Centennial and Douglas County.
Centennial Airport opened as Arapahoe County Municipal Airport in 1967. The airport was built on a site that was at the time in a rural area on the far outskirts of the Denver metro area.
In more recent decades, commercial and residential developments have sprung up around the third largest general-aviation airport in the nation and the facility has increasingly become the subject of noise complaints from neighbors.
According to Olislagers, the noise-monitoring equipment — some stationary, some that can be moved to different locations — will provide airport staff with reliable information when responding to a neighbor’s complaint.
“We will be able to, in almost real time, say, ‘OK, that was an older-style Leer aircraft that flew at 3 o’clock in the morning over that particular subdivision. It had a noise footprint of 80 decibels,” the airport director said.
And if, for example, it is determined that a given airplane was flying at a particularly low altitude, the airport would contact the pilot and try to find out why.
The airport will also use the monitoring equipment proactively by working directly with pilots and the Federal Aviation Administration on noise-abatement programs after airport officials determine which areas have seen the most impact from noise.
The airport could, for example, alter flight patterns if it were determined that a certain residential area was being unduly affected by aircraft noise.
The recently formed Centennial Airport Community Noise Roundtable will hold its first official meeting July 15 to begin the process of selecting noise-monitoring equipment.
Centennial Airport is among the top 25 busiest U.S. airports. As a general-aviation facility, its emphasis is on business and charter flights. The airport does not offer regular passenger service. The airport estimates its economic impact to the community at nearly $1 billion annually.
“Centennial consistently ranks among the busiest small airports in the nation, and it is a major economic driver and job creator in the region,” Udall said. “It's critical to keep Centennial strong, and I'm proud to have supported funding for this grant."
Centennial Airport will need to raise an additional $200,000 to fully pay for the equipment, which will likely be in place by the end of the year, according to the airport’s executive director Robert Olislagers.
He says the sophisticated equipment, utilizing radar technology, will help airport officials more accurately gauge noise produced by airplanes as they land and take off at the increasingly urban facility.
“It will help us review what the noise exposure is, in terms of actual decibels, so that we’ll actually have scientific measurements, as opposed to an individual saying the aircraft was loud,” Olislagers said.
Noise emitting from the airport in unincorporated Arapahoe County has been an ongoing concern among many area residents in Centennial and Douglas County.
Centennial Airport opened as Arapahoe County Municipal Airport in 1967. The airport was built on a site that was at the time in a rural area on the far outskirts of the Denver metro area.
In more recent decades, commercial and residential developments have sprung up around the third largest general-aviation airport in the nation and the facility has increasingly become the subject of noise complaints from neighbors.
According to Olislagers, the noise-monitoring equipment — some stationary, some that can be moved to different locations — will provide airport staff with reliable information when responding to a neighbor’s complaint.
“We will be able to, in almost real time, say, ‘OK, that was an older-style Leer aircraft that flew at 3 o’clock in the morning over that particular subdivision. It had a noise footprint of 80 decibels,” the airport director said.
And if, for example, it is determined that a given airplane was flying at a particularly low altitude, the airport would contact the pilot and try to find out why.
The airport will also use the monitoring equipment proactively by working directly with pilots and the Federal Aviation Administration on noise-abatement programs after airport officials determine which areas have seen the most impact from noise.
The airport could, for example, alter flight patterns if it were determined that a certain residential area was being unduly affected by aircraft noise.
The recently formed Centennial Airport Community Noise Roundtable will hold its first official meeting July 15 to begin the process of selecting noise-monitoring equipment.
Centennial Airport is among the top 25 busiest U.S. airports. As a general-aviation facility, its emphasis is on business and charter flights. The airport does not offer regular passenger service. The airport estimates its economic impact to the community at nearly $1 billion annually.
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