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Some like it quiet: Plane enthusiasts watch an Airbus A-380 to touch down at Dorval airport last fall. (File photo)
Night-flight plans temporarily grounded;
'We're happy now, but we'll have to see what happens in the future': Lachine mayor
Brett Bundale
The Gazette
Friday, July 4, 2008
Some like it quiet: Plane enthusiasts watch an Airbus A-380 to touch down at Dorval airport last fall. (File photo)
A plan that spread night flights over several neighbourhoods
around Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport has been
temporarily suspended.
Aéroports de Montréal announced yesterday that night flights will
once again take off and land over St. Laurent and Lac St. Louis, as
they did before the plan was put into place in September 2006.
The plan introduced night flight paths over different Montreal
boroughs, including Cartierville, Ahuntsic and Saraguay in an effort
to reduce the noise impact of increased night traffic. The flight
paths also included Laval.
The flight path required a sharp left turn at 520 feet over Highway
13 for night-time takeoffs, something that proved a challenge for
pilots.
"Air Canada pilots are used to applying the procedure," Normand
Boivin, chairman of the soundscape advisory committee, said
yesterday at a news conference in an airport lounge.
"But some pilots who don't fly into Montreal regularly found the
turning procedure difficult. So we need to work on certain technical
and human factors in order to meet our criteria and put the flight
plan back in place," Boivin said.
Night flights are considered any departure between midnight and 7
a.m. or arrival between 1 a.m. and 7 a.m.
The goal of the night-flight plan, which could be reinstated in
about 10 to 12 months once more testing is completed, is to reduce
the number of people affected by airplane noise at night, Boivin
said.
The plan was suspended because objectives were not being met.
The decision means that a night-flight path over Lachine, which
would require a sharp right turn over the Lachine rail yards, will
not be implemented in the near future.
"It's good news for Lachine," said Claude Dauphin, mayor of
Lachine.
"We're happy now but we'll have to be attentive to see what happens
in the future."
In a unanimous decision eight months ago, the Lachine council voted
against any future night- flight path over the borough, Dauphin
said.
"Residents bought their homes in Lachine knowing there were flights
from time to time, but not a night corridor with planes constantly
overhead."
Pointe Claire Mayor Bill McMurchie, a member of the soundscape
committee, said the decision to suspend the flight plan, which
"distributed dissatisfaction equitably," was a mistake.
"I look at this as a step backwards. They (ADM) were so close to
meeting the norms for noise and effectively reduce the noise
footprint of the airport. They missed a golden opportunity to be
responsible corporate citizens.
"We were on the borderline of success and we didn't take the last
step," McMurchie said.
St. Laurent borough mayor Alan DeSousa, also on the soundscape
committee, said:
"I live under a flight path, so I know what it's like, too. But we
all have to share the costs and the benefits of living close to an
airport."
Paul Wilkinson, the Dorval coordinator of Citizens for a Quality of
Life, said night flights have disastrous consequences of people's
health and well-being.
"I don't understand why we allow night flights to continue to
disrupt the sleep of so many people when we have Mirabel." Wilkinson
said.
Using the Mirabel airport for night flights was "out of the
question," Boivin said.