Residents of Rocky View County should soon get some relief from the noise of planes flying overhead, after the introduction of new technology at the Calgary International Airport (YYC), according to representatives from the Calgary Airport Authority who appeared before Rocky View County’s (RVC) Policy and Priorities Committee (PPC) July 5 and at Airdrie City council Aug. 15.
“You’re seeing aircraft flying more precisely through some of the technology,” Senior Director, Communications and Stakeholder Relations Jody Moseley told the PPC. “They are getting more quiet while doing so.”
Required Navigation Performance (RNP) will allow airplanes to fly shorter landing flight paths and limit the number flying directly over RVC and the City of Airdrie, according to Director of Airfield Compliance Doug Francoeur.
“These RNP procedures were just introduced this spring for arrival procedures only,” he said. “They allow the appropriately equipped aircraft…to fly a constant descent approach to the airport.”
RNP uses GPS technology to determine where the aircraft is. The autopilot can then fly the most optimum flight path to land. When an aircraft is cleared to fly this approach, the pilot can line up with the runway just three nautical miles from the end, rather than the 10 to 12 nautical miles required for a traditional instrument landing system (ILS) approach.
According to Francoeur, a wide variety of aircraft arrive and depart from YYC, with the greatest number – 21 per cent – being 737s, like those operated by WestJet.
Aircraft departing YYC and flying over the City of Airdrie are usually 5,000 to 6,000 feet above sea level over RVC and Airdrie and many fly east or west prior to flying over Airdrie, according to Francoeur. Average elevation for an arriving aircraft is between 1,500 and 3,000 feet above ground level. Wind is the biggest determinant of which direction aircraft will depart and arrive.
RNP is currently being used by approximately 10 per cent of aircraft arriving at YYC, according to Francoeur.
According to Francoeur, training pilots to use the technology and equipping the aircraft with the technology is going to take time.
“We’re going to see much more proliferation and usage in RNP going forward,” he said.
YYC takes the concerns of residents seriously, according to Moseley.
Moseley confirmed the number of complaints received via YYC’s concern hotline have gone up since the new runway opened in 2013, however, calls to the hotline are down 30 per cent in 2016 from 2015. In 2015, 68 percent or almost 7,000 calls, came from just two people.
“We are very aware that the airport can sometimes impact the public,” she said. “YYC is an urban airport. It is impossible to arrive and depart aircraft without some community impact.
“If anything, I think the tolerance for aircraft is getting lower and we are working harder to minimize some of the impact.”
Moseley said the Airport Community Consultative Committee (ACCC) is also a very important tool for YYC. The ACCC includes representatives from local communities, City of Calgary and Airdrie, Nav Canada, Transport Canada and the airlines.
