Residents of Airdrie might get some relief from the noise of planes landing at the Calgary International Airport (YYC) once technology on aircraft and at the airport is improved, according to NAV Canada, the organization responsible for 18 million square kilometres of Canadian and oceanic airspace.
Approximately 25 residents showed up within the first hour of an open house at the Airdrie Town and Country Centre on Dec. 2 to check out changes to flight paths proposed by NAV Canada and YYC.
These changes involve introducing new Required Navigation Performance (RNP) procedures, which would allow airplanes to fly shorter landing flight paths and limit the number flying directly over the City of Airdrie.
“In layman’s terms, I would describe RNP as suped-up GPS,” Michelle Bishop, director of Government and Public Affairs with NAV Canada said. “It’s a type of satellite-based navigation that the plane uses. The plane has additional equipment on board that continuously monitors the accuracy of its satellite signal.
“It enables us to design very accurate flight paths that the planes will fly with a lot of (repetition). The RNP approaches allow the planes to come in on a continuous descent at low power and with a fairly clean wind so there isn’t as much noise generated. We think the flight paths are shorter and they may be quieter.”
According to Bishop, some flight paths will be shortened by as much as 18 to 20 kilometres.
Residents of Airdrie and the surrounding area have been voicing their concerns over increased noise from the airport since a new runway was opened at YYC in 2013.
Jim, a long-time resident of Sharp Hill, said he was hopeful the proposed changes would make sitting out on his deck in the summer again a possibility.
“I like it. I think it’s going to help. I’ve noticed that WestJet has been doing it for quite a while because they have the equipment,” he said. “They’re doing a steeper glide path for runway 17, which is the new runway, and they’re not as noisy as Air Canada and all the other ones because they’re coming in a little lower and holding power. Once they (all) get the equipment, we’ll see if what they want to accomplish is accomplished. It’s just a matter of time.”
Not all airplanes are currently equipped with the required technology to follow the new RNP procedures. According to Bishop, WestJet has the technology on most of their fleet, while Air Canada has it on their Embraer aircraft.
However, the new flight paths will only be utilized part of the time, and mostly during off peak times.
“We think we’ll get to 25 per cent (of aircraft using it) in the next year,” Bishop said. “It will vary a little at different times of day. At peak arrival times, it’s hard to make it work with the sequencing. We believe we’ll get to 60 per cent of planes (equipped with the technology) in Calgary eventually.”
Staff from NAV Canada is currently presenting information about the new RNP procedures in a number of communities around Calgary in a series of open houses. According to Bishop, those open houses will be completed within the next six to eight weeks at which time the information and feedback collected will be discussed with staff from YYC and next steps determined.
More information on the proposed RNP changes is available at yyc.com
Residents who missed the open house or who would like to provide feedback can do so via a comment form available on that website until the end of January 2016.
