Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Concerned About Increased Airplane Noise?

UU reader Rick Ingram writes in:
"Is anyone concerned about the noise from O'Hare jets, which is going to double in a couple of years? Trying to identify folks who may want to work on this issue. Soon we will have four lines of jets over Edgewater/Uptown, as all runways are being realigned to dump jets over us. Some days I can't have a conversation with my neighbor in the back yard without raising my voice to compensate for the jet noise. Does anyone out there care about this? Thanks."
Rick Ingram
quietoveredgewater@gmail.com

28 comments:

  1. I don't mind at all. It's cool to sit on the balcony and watch the jets fly by. Furthermore, it's always great to fly over Uptown on the final approach into O'Hare...

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love hearing and seeing the jets fly over my building and by my windows. It's rather thrilling to me to see such marvels of engineering. But, I also liked hearing the el go by when I lived close to that, too.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I live in Uptown, and I love to lounge on my sundeck watching the planes fly overhead.. trying to guess each airline and plane model :)

    No matter what we need to embrace airline travel. Without this vital part of the transportation industry, or national economy would not be what it is today.

    Coming from San Diego, and knowing the many concerns about airports, I always remind myself that I bought into an area that was subjected to the paths of the airport, which was there WAY before I bought into my place. So who theoretically has first rights?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Yes. Im new to Uptown and there are a lot of things I'd like to get involved with, but the airplanes flying overhead are not a concern. I love the technology, and hearing them reminds me Im living in an urban environment that literally allows me to fly direct to most places in the world!

    ReplyDelete
  5. It's the things on the ground that should mobilize us first.

    ReplyDelete
  6. This is not a problem for me, I love to watch the planes fly over!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I haven't noticed increase noise from airplanes. I tend to like them just for the view.

    The O'Hare plans are poor, but the noise isn't the big impact I'm concerned about.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I actually enjoy the planes. I do not find them all too noisy either, Not nearly as loud as the sirens from the Fire Department.

    I also enjoy the weekend of the airshow.

    ReplyDelete
  9. There's one flight that goes over Uptown at 4am that wakes me up every single night. Not thrilled about more, but - honestly - that's the only one I ever notice.

    ReplyDelete
  10. i'm so hapy that there are other neighbors, like me who think it's kind of cool that we get to see the planes come in for their landings. the noise isn't bad at all, especially compared to all the other noise we have to deal with -- rather that than the THUMP THUMP THUMP of the auto stereo systems.

    It's one reason I think it might be cool to live at that Rainbo Village, across from the cemetery at Clark and Lawrence.

    Now, who wants to invite me over to their deck to watch some planes and have a couple beers???

    ReplyDelete
  11. I lived in Des Plaines for a few years... Uptown is quiet.

    ReplyDelete
  12. As with the general street noise, el noise, Aragon & Riv shows... this is something I've easily accepted about the neighborhood over the past 3 years. I wouldn't 'hear' the planes unless you brought them to my attention. All in all, they are still several minutes outside of the airport, and I wonder if any complaints would have as much traction as those for people who live a few miles closer.

    ReplyDelete
  13. i prefer airplanes to the sounds of sirens and gunshots!

    ReplyDelete
  14. I live in an Edgewater high rise between Foster and Bryn Mawr and I also love watching the planes fly over my building on their Westward descent into O'Hare. I very rarely hear them as the planes still have decent altitude near the lakefront. There is another flight path that is a few blocks South of Foster which is the one over Uptown. From my vantage point it appears planes are just as high as the more Northern path over Edgewater. I hear the El and the many buses on Sheridan Road go by constantly which is by far louder than the airplanes.

    Our communities should not have any concern over planes going into an airport located miles away. The crime, both violent and non-violent, now that is by far my #1 concern. A little noise from an airplane doesn't faze me, but every time I have to get off the EL at Wilson or Lawrence after dark and walk through an area that I am well aware is the location of violent crime on more than one occasion, now that REALLY BUGS me!

    ReplyDelete
  15. My goodness. I live 2 blocks from Weiss Hospital. I hear ambulance sirens and Firetrucks sometimes every 5 minutes. It's a 24/7 war zone here at Clarendon and Windsor. I doubt I would even hear a plane overhead.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Even if it were absolutely quiet, I wonder if one could hear the planes at all. I love watching their descent, and I agree it is fun to fly in from the lake and spot our beloved (noisy, corrupt, frustrating) little community.

    ReplyDelete
  17. As I lay out on my deck I rather hear the jet noise then gun shot noise, drunk yelling noise and boom box noise from passing cars that shake my windows.........

    ReplyDelete
  18. I have no problem at all with the planes flying over either. I think it's pretty neat especially the huge jumbo jets. i find it fascinating. Guess I'm easily entertained!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Rick asks, "Does anyone out there care about this?"

    Very few it would seem.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Interesting respones. Not sure they will be the same when the problem increases. The posts are basicaly saying two things: 1. We like noise so shut up, and 2. We have other bigger problems. As to the first point, it's like me saying how much I enjoy watching the videos posted on this site of Uptown crime so it's wrong for you all to complain about crime. Point 2: Crime may be bad, but it's a false choice to say "I care about crime so I can't care about anything else." Noise, like crime, diminishes property values and quality of life. Also don't understand the "you moved to the noise comment". We didn't; the noise came to us. I guess then when you moved to Uptown, which already had a crime problem, you waived any right to complain about crime? Maybe the respondents don't live in the prime flyover zone: I'm between two flight paths and it is really miserable now....

    ReplyDelete
  21. Farmer56, I didn't see anyone tell anyone else to "shut up." The majority of responses are just saying, no, the noise isn't at a level that's intrusive to our lives; in fact, we don't notice it at all. (And, parenthetically, the sirens and els and boomboxes we hear all around us every day *are*.)

    Not denying that folks in other areas, such as yourself, under other flight paths, DO have problems with the noise, but for the majority of people posting from Uptown, the noise isn't at a bothersome, or noticeable, level.

    If you want to extend your crime analogy, it's like someone asking folks in Portage Park if they're bothered by the crime level in Uptown.

    No one's minimizing YOUR problems with the noise. We're just responding to the original questions posed, which were: "Is anyone concerned about the noise from O'Hare jets? ... Does anyone out there care about this?"

    ReplyDelete
  22. I think this is one of the few issues I have ever seen on this forum where there is a genuine concensus of people in agreement.

    We like watching the planes, and don't notice the noise. I am actually glad that the issue was raised I thought maybe I was like a child in that I enjoy watching these big hunks of metal gracefully slice through the sky on their way to Ohare.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Until their altitude decreases to the point that they cast a shadow over my back yard, like when I lived 1/2 mile from the end of the South runway at O'Hare, sorry, I just don't have the same volume of concern.

    ReplyDelete
  24. I would rather hear the noise from the jets then the noise of gun shots by my house anytime........

    ReplyDelete
  25. It's number 723 on my list of Uptown concerns. Chicago, being a huge city with tons of air traffic is going to have jet noise.

    The reason I don't care so much about it is, short of moving to Nebraska, there isn't much any of us can do about it.

    ReplyDelete
  26. i live in a high-rise on sheridan road, i watch the plans cross the sky high above, without a sound ... now the traffic on sheridan road is a different story.

    i'm not bothered by the air traffic, since i can't even hear it.

    i don't care for the street traffic on sheridan, but like ORD it was here before me. i also knew when i bought my place that while i have a great view of the lake & city, i've also got thousands of cars & trucks passing by daily.

    so my answer is no, i'm not concerned, there has been no increase anyway.

    ReplyDelete
  27. For any readers who do care, there is something we can do about plane noise: Call 311. Say you want to file an O'Hare Noise Complaint. They take your address. It forwards to the FAA and takes less than a minute. The FAA has the power to alter flight patterns and approach protocols based on noise complaints and does so at other airports. So if you are between two flight paths like me and the noise bugs you, call 311 often. If not, it seems like you certainly have your hands full with other issues in Uptown and best of luck with them. If you want more facts, Google the O'Hare Noise Compatiblity Commission and check out some of the links. Then stock up on ear plugs.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Just found this -- here we are in 2013 with the OHare modernization plan fully underway. The reason most of these folks probably don't care is because they are in uptown, and the changes are in Edgewater. There is now thunderous air traffic all day long.

    ReplyDelete