The revised Gatwick flightpath for westerly takeoffs was finally implemented at the end of May – giving some respite from the worst aircraft noise to residents in the Coldharbour and Leith Hill area.
The aircraft taking off in a westerly direction and then turning east to pass to the north of the airport now make a tighter half circle turn and complete the manoeuvre over the Beare Green area.
There has, however, been no change to the flightpath when aircraft take off in an easterly direction and then turn to the west, passing to the north of the airport. This has resulted in areas which previously only had intermittent issues with aircraft noise from this flightpath suffering from more significant noise pollution when this flightpath is used as aircraft follow a more concentrated flight pattern.
Equally, there has been no change to the flightpath when aircraft take of in a westerly direction and continue to the west and no change to the flightpath used by affect aircraft landing from the west – both of which cause significant noise pollution over the Walliswood area. More consideration needs to be given to alleviate noise pollution in this area.
The aircraft in the Ockham Stack – waiting to land at Heathrow – also fly over our area, particularly Westcott and Wotton, and we continue to pass complaints over excessive aircraft noise in this area to the authorities at Heathrow.
I can assure you that Route 4 has not been improved in any way shape or form since May 2016. I live in Brockham and it is absolutely dreadful. Gatwick/NATS/CAA have done us no favours whatsover – lived in my home for 20 plus years and never suffered any noise from Gatwick, never complained, nothing. Please do not labour under the misapprehension that Route 4 has altered, it has not. And as you say, the Ockham Stack has increased and now we suffer terrible low Heathrow departures of huge aircraft that turn and then use Route 4 (roughly). It is an absolutely dreadful situation and no one it seems can do anything about it. People are despairing about what has been done to their homes, their lives and their peace – it is tragic.
Many thanks for your comments.
Route 4 is a westerly take-off route from Gatwick and when planes take off towards the west and then turn east north of the airport the turn is tighter and they fly to the south of their previous route and within their approved flightpath (NPR). Keeping the planes within their flightpath (NPR) has certainly led to improvements for residents in the south Westcott and Coldharbour area.
I agree that there is greater noise within the NPR than previously as there is a greater concentration of planes over a particular strip of land ie the planes are less spread out than they used to be. This has to be addressed – we need to get back to the flightpaths before PR-NAV was introduced at the airport.