Almost a year ago, the Naples Airport Authority submitted a noise study and proposals for quieting some of that noise to the Federal Aviation Administration . After some back and forth, the FAA accepted the study this month.
What does that mean?
It means the FAA now has 180 days to rule on each noise abatement measure. Among them are a proposal to increase the aircraft hold elevation after takeoff; to study the feasibility of moving the airport; to create Noise Exposure Maps (NEMs) and a Noise Compatibility Program (NCP); to increase use of the crosswind runway; and to shift the Goodlette-Frank Road Departure Corridor east and create a “Golf Course Corridor.”
The Airport Authority began conducting the $2 million Airport Noise Compatibility study in 2019 to investigate the effects in and around the airport. It commonly is referred to as Part 150 study because the FAA created the noise program under 14 CFR Part 150 of the 1979 Aviation Safety and Noise Abatement Act.
Suggestions from the community and the Naples City Council were taken into consideration when writing the proposed noise reduction measures.A proposed measure that wasn’t in the Part 150 study sent to the FAA but was a direct result of it was to move the airport altogether . Naples City Council asked the authority to look at the feasibility of a move – an ongoing discussion as far back as 1971. Environmental Science Associates (ESA) was hired last year to conduct an exploratory study .