Monitoring van de geluidbelasting door militaire luchtvaart bij Volkel, Uitvoering en resultaten over het jaar 2000

A description is geven of the set up of the results of a system for permamnet measurements of noise from military aircraft near Volkel military airbase. Here, at a location approximately 2000 m south-west of the runway, noise events are recorded automatically. The levels of these events were processed from March 2000 till January 2001 to obtain the value for the 'averaged' noise load in such a way as to allow comparison with the calculated annual noise load due to military aircraft operation at this airbase. In the period from March till December 2000, the measured noise load equalled 51 plus or minus 2 Kosten units (Ke), the Dutch noise unit for measuring aircraft noise. In Lden, the noise load amounts to 69 dB(A). The load of 51 plus or minus 2 Ke is within the margins of the load calculated by the National Aerospace Laboratory (NLR) over the year 2000. Depending on the assumed lateral dispersion of the flight routes across nominal ground tracks, these margins are 48 and 51 Ke. The value of 48 Ke is almost 8 Ke higher than the noise loads calculated for previous years. This increase is related to the completion (by the end of 1999) of a technical and operational update programme for the F16 aircraft (Mid-Life Update, MLU) at Volkel. As a result, the flight profiles of the aircraft have been changed.The measurements at Volkel have revealed that large differences, in time as well as in space, may occur in the annual noise load. A great number of the changes in the aircraft operation responsible for these differences will be logged and used in the calculation of the annual noise load. However, some aspects may be overseen due to legal regulations or agreements. The measurements at Volkel have shown that the assumption of a large lateral dispersion of the flight routes leads to an underestimation of the annual noise load of 3 Ke at the measurement location, while at other locations this assumption may lead to the same degree of overestimation For the time being, continuation in the measurement of aircraft noise close to an airport is recommended. Regarded as being worthwhile is investigating to see if short measurements closer to the airport runway, and measurements on a larger number of aircraft types under different technical and operational conditions, may present an alternative to permanent measurements at one location and for one aircraft type. By comparing the measured noise emission with the emission values used in the calculations, it will become clear to what extent the real flight, and meteo and environmental conditions, cause a difference in the 'real' noise load compared to the calculated noise load. This will contribute to the reliability of the monitoring of the noise load around airports. Furthermore, by repeating the measurements every year, the development in time of the fleet's noise emission can be followed.