Luton Holding Stack
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INITIAL CONSULTATIONS RESULTS NOW AVAILABLE FROM NATS WEBSITE |
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What is NATS or National Air Traffic Services proposing? NATS is proposing to change the arrivals flight paths for Luton Airport. At the moment, aircraft travel to Luton south of us via a holding point near Royston (the Lorel stack). NATS wants to move that flight path to an area north of its current position. As part of that flight path, they are suggesting that most aircraft arriving at Luton should be held in a hold or stack to await landing. Those aircraft could be held in a queue circling from 14,000 feet to as low as 7,000 feet above us. NATS says 'All arrivals have to plan to fly a route via a hold in case queuing is required' (part D para 5.1). NATS even admits that some aircraft would fly north past Luton, join the stack and then fly back south to Luton, without taking a direct route. What will that mean for us? This stack will be directly above our homes and could happen as early as March 2009. If you've seen the maps and think you're not affected, think again. Look here for a map of the stack and look here for a map of the general flight paths they are proposing to use to and from the stack. Have a look at the latest news about this issue here. NATS makes clear in its consultation document that normal operations start as early as 6am and finish as late as midnight. During that period aircraft will land at the aiport at an average rate of 10.3 per hour or one every 6 minutes. At peak times, NATS expects aircraft to land at a rate of 25 per hour or 1 every 2.5 minutes. Even after midnight NATS estimates that 8-9 aircraft will land between 12am and 6am. How noisy will this be? NATS has suggested that noise would range from 55dBA to 61dBA from each aircraft. To give an idea of how loud this is, NATS has suggested that 60dBA is the noise generated by a busy general office. Bear in mind, though, that in rural areas there would be little or no background noise to offset the sound of aircraft, and the sound is from one aircraft not many. In other words, the sound would be very noticeable. It would also be continuous, as aircraft circle around the stack. What can you do? The deadline for making complaints has now passed. NATS has now published its initial feedback report. It can be downloaded from their website.
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