Greensboro Approves Noise Guide for New FedEx Hub

A guidebook designed to protect residents from noise generated by the FedEx hub coming to Piedmont Triad International Airport is on its way to the Federal Aviation Administration for final approval.

The Piedmont Triad Airport Authority unanimously approved the 200-page document Tuesday after a two-year process that cost $1.3 million and involved airport businesses, community members and local government officials.

Called "Part 150" after an FAA regulation, the document will serve as a guide as the airport begins monitoring noise levels from the hub, set to open in 2009. More than 60 planes a night are expected to land and take off from the East Coast sorting hub by 2014.

The document recommends:

l aircraft land and take off from the southwest, except in unfavorable weather, to protect neighborhoods north of the airport from noise.

l specific turning instructions for aircraft headed in various directions to minimize their time over populated areas.

l aircraft stay at a higher altitude during their approach.

l buying the roughly one dozen houses in areas where noise will be above 70 decibels.

l appointing a staff person at the airport to coordinate noise monitoring.

Henry Isaacson, the airport authority's chairman, also appointed three members of the board - Nancy Vaughan, of Greensboro; W. Earl Barbour, of High Point; and Gloria D. Whisenhunt, of Winston-Salem - to oversee noise issues and keep contact with the public.

Jean Black, a member of the citizens advisory committee that helped plan the study, told the board that she would like to see the authority create an additional citizens advisory board to monitor the noise program at PTI.

She said that it should be done as soon as possible.

"The immediate impact of this would be evidence to the public that the airport authority is concerned" about the community, she said.

The report is expected to be approved by the FAA by the end of this year.

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