Commission to send airlines ''gotcha'' notes for noisy jets

A plane on the runway at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport

By Robert McCoppin

June 29, 2000 Web posted at: 2:46 PM EDT (1846 GMT)

CHICAGO, Illinois (Daily Herald) -- Suburban leaders on Tuesday considered whether to expand noise monitoring around O'Hare International Airport and planned to send "gotcha" notices to airlines that fly too close to homes.

The notices would inform airlines of planes that, during takeoff, leave the preferred "fly quiet" paths before reaching an altitude of 3,000 feet, or planes that stay too low too long.

"Maybe they need a little nasty-gram," Palatine Village President Rita Mullins said.

"We gotcha," Arlington Heights Village President Arlene Mulder said.

The notices, scheduled to go out next week, would be the first direct notices to airlines from the O'Hare Noise Compatibility Commission, which is funded primarily by Chicago but has numerous suburban members. The airlines have pledged to cooperate with noise reduction efforts, but the commission has no power to punish violators.

Chicago may discover that pilots or air traffic controllers had good reasons to divert flights, said Christopher Arman, the city's aviation assistant commissioner.

Noise monitors have been set up in 31 communities. Areas where average noise levels exceed 65 decibels are eligible for millions of dollars in sound insulation at homes and schools. In recent years, several communities - including Arlington Heights and Rolling Meadows - were denied permanent monitors. River Forest officials are considering paying for one themselves.

City officials believe existing monitors cover the entire affected area around O'Hare. The cost of a monitor, city officials said, is $25,000 for equipment and installation, and $16,000 for operations and maintenance. At that price, Arman said, the city can't afford monitors in every town. He said the system can handle 10 more monitors.

Members of a rival group, the Suburban O'Hare Commission, criticize the way Chicago controls the monitoring information. Elk Grove Village has four monitors. Chicago reports only monthly noise averages, so overnight periods of noisy flights get averaged out of existence, Village President Craig Johnson said. He said daily numbers could justify expanding the sound insulation program.

The O'Hare noise commission, which oversees the sound insulation program, uses average noise levels because the Federal Aviation Administration uses that standard to fund sound insulation grants, Mulder said.She said her group will discuss monitoring again during a future meeting.

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