Originally Posted by
moeve
The reason Airbus is producing quieter aircraft is simply because EU laws are requiring them to do so to protect people who (foolishly choose to live near an airport) but then again we Europeans simply have less space at our disposal so we need to fix problems and noise polution is one factor being adressed in this form.
i am one of those who foolishly live "close to the airport"(flight path) however, i did not live "close to the airport" until bigger and larger planes were allowed, and a larger radius of service was allowed(DCA). although europe has "less space", most airports are quite far from heavily populated areas......lhr, cdg, mxp, fco, fra, muc, are all out in nowhere. most of the midsize airports in europe i have used are also out in nowhere.
when i moved into my current house, dca had only prop planes, and the flight path ended about 2 miles past the end of the runway. the flight path is now 15 miles out. dca had a 10 pm firm curfew. it is now a 24 hr airport with a pretty big dump shortly after 12 midnite.
the new jet engines are much quieter than the prior generations, not from decree"you be quiet" but from engine design. the engines now move a lot more air at lower velocity than the older generation engines. much quieter engines.