Short Term Aircraft Noise Monitoring March March, Pacifica Prepared for the Oddstad Boulevard Park Pacifica Avenue Neighborhoods by San Francisco International Airport Noise Abatement Office P.O. Box 8097 San Francisco, CA 94128 (650) 821 5100 Technical Report #032013 P50971 P52972 June 2013
Page 1 Introduction The San Francisco International Airport Noise Abatement Office conducted short term noise monitoring in Pacifica to determine the noise level within the neighborhood from aircraft operations at San Francisco International Airport (SFO). Portable noise monitors were installed in backyards of two private residences located on Grand Teton Drive off Big Bend Drive and on Tioga Way off Oddstad Boulevard in Pacifica. Noise data was collected from Friday, March 1 to Monday, March 18, 2013. This neighborhood is located approximately five miles southwest of SFO and experiences noise from aircraft departing from SFO s Runways 1L/R and 28L/R, aircraft arriving to SFO s Runways 28L/R, aircraft departing Oakland International Airport s (OAK) Runway 29, General Aviation aircraft and helicopter activities. The two monitoring sites are approximately half a mile apart. Summary During this measurement period, a daily average of 154 aircraft flew within a cylindrical area of 2 mile in radius and 15,000 feet in height centered on the monitoring sites. A daily average of 123 flights was SFO s operations, 25 flights were OAK s operations and 3 flights were from unknown airports. Aircraft operations detected at the locations resulted in a 24 hour daily Community Noise Equivalent Level (CNEL) of 32.5 to 48.6 decibels, 24 hour daily Community CNEL of 43.8 to 77.7 decibels and a 24 hour daily total CNEL of 44.5 to 77.7 decibels. These results are consistent with aircraft noise levels outside of SFO s 65 decibel CNEL noise impact contour (see Figure 1). Noise Standards The State of California use a Federal Government approved 24-hour, time-weighted, cumulative noise metric known as the Community Noise Equivalent Level (CNEL) to assess and regulate airport noise. This metric represents a standard measure of noise averaged over a 24-hour period where each aircraft noise event occurring between 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. is weight an additional 4.77 decibels (db), and each aircraft noise event occurring between 10:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. is weight an additional 10 db. An exterior noise standard that is greater than 65 db CNEL within a residential property line is incompatible to airport operations. Appendix A provides an example of how CNEL is calculated. Noise Monitor Equipment The equipment used to measure the noise level was an Environmental Monitor Uniting (EMU) 2200 noise monitors and Type 41DM-2 microphones manufactured by Lochard Corportation. The measurements consisted of monitoring the A-weighted decibel in accordance with procedures and equipment which comply with International Electrotechnical Commission, and measurement standards established by the American National Standards Institute for Type I instrumentation. The EMUs and microphones were calibrated prior to the start of the measurements. The EMUs are housed in a weatherproof case and powered by electrical wall outlets. The microphones were mounted on a tripod at a height of approximately seven feet (see Figure 2). The noise levels at the site were continuously monitored and the results stored on the onboard memory and periodically transferred to a removable memory stick for decoding. The decoded noise data were then processed in the Airport Noise and Operations Management System (ANOMS) for identification, noise to flight track matching and CNEL calculations.
Page 2 Figure 1 Location of Noise Measurement Sites Relative to 4Q2012 65 db CNEL Noise Contour
Page 3 Figure 2 Noise Monitor and Microphone Grand Teton Drive Tioga Way
Page 4 Recorded Flight Track Information SFO operates two sets of closely spaced parallel runways that intersect midfield at a ninety degree angle. With winds predominately from the west, the optimal flow of traffic is arrivals on Runway 28L and 28R and departures on Runway 01L and 01R. This configuration is known as the West Plan and occurs approximately 83% of the time (see Figure 3). As a result, a daily average of 154 aircraft flew within a cylindrical area of 2 miles in radius and 15,000 feet in height centered on the monitoring location during the measurement period. Flight operations arriving to or departing the following airports were identified: SFO, OAK, Mineta San Jose International, Palo Alto, San Carlos, Hayward Executive, Half Moon Bay and Moffett Federal Airfield. Transient flight operations not associated to an airport facility were also identified. Table 1 below summarizes total operations by airports versus amount of flight activities through the cylindrical airspace. Table 2 further details these flight operations by their Pointof-Closest Approach (PCA) distances (altitude, slant and ground distance) relative to the measurement site. Table 1 Amount of Air Traffic Operations by Airport Period: Saturday, March 2, 2013 through Sunday, March 17, 2013 Flight Activities through Cylindrical Airspace Airport Arrivals Departures Overflights Total Arrival Total % Departure Total % Total SFO 8,655 8,817 17,472 195 2% 1,770 20% 1,965 OAK 3,311 3,372 6,683 7 0% 393 12% 400 SJC 2,644 2,725 5,369 14 1% 2 0% 16 NUQ 92 105 197 1 1% 0 0% 1 SQL 1,240 1,584 2,824 8 1% 4 0% 12 PAO 2,109 1,848 3,957 9 0% 7 0% 16 HAF 42 91 133 0 0% 2 2% 2 HWD 1,147 876 2,023 2 0% 0 0% 2 Unknown 5,868 5,868 46 (overflights) 1% 46 Total 19,240 19,418 38,658 236 1% 2,178 11% 2,460 Airport 3-Letter Identification Table 3 Letter Code SFO OAK SJC NUQ SQL PAO HAF HWD Airport Name San Francisco International Airport Oakland International Airport Mineta San Jose International Airport Moffett Federal Airfield San Carlos Airport Palo Alto Airport Half Moon Bay Airport Hayward Executive Airport
Page 5 Table 2 Average Point of Closest Approach Aircraft Distances (feet)
Page 6 Figure 3 Typical West Flow Plan Air Traffic Pattern All Recorded Flight Activities (March 17, 2013 24 Hours) Flight Tracks through Cylindrical Airspace (March 17, 2013 24 Hours)
Page 7 Noise Measurements Noise data was collected on-site from Friday, March 1, 2013 to Monday, March 18, 2013 using a sound level threshold of 52 db and various flight track matching parameters which resulted in 1,222 Aircraft Noise Events and 1,820 Community Noise Events for the Grand Teton location and 1,037 Aircraft Noise Events and 641 Community Noise Events for the Tioga Way location for the measurement period. On average there were 154 overflights during 14 days of typical West Plan and 2 days of mixed flow (West Plan and Southeast Plan) days. The following tables summarize these operations and the resulting daily noise climates. Table 3 Daily Aircraft Noise Measurements at Grand Teton Drive Date Amount of PCA Overflights 3 Amount of Aircraft Noise Events 4 Aircraft CNEL (db) L max 6 Range (db) SEL 7 Flow Pattern 8 3/2/2013 1 141 74 41.0 53.0-66.4 60.0-77.7 West 3/3/2013 164 128 43.7 52.2-66.4 59.9-77.1 West 3/4/2013 181 124 44.1 52.5-67.4 60.5-78.8 West 3/5/2013 89 38 42.3 53.5-66.0 61.1-76.9 West&SE 3/6/2013 117 90 42.9 52.0-66.4 61.0-76.6 West&SE 3/7/2013 182 157 47.2 52.8-71.7 60.8-85.1 West 3/8/2013 138 93 48.6 52.9-67.6 60.5-78.0 West 3/9/2013 170 96 46.8 52.2-66.6 60.0-78.7 West 3/10/2013 176 55 40.1 53.1-66.8 61.5-75.0 West 3/11/2013 173 85 42.0 52.7-63.4 60.5-73.5 West 3/12/2013 152 33 36.3 52.6-67.1 61.1-74.3 West 3/13/2013 156 44 38.2 52.8-63.6 61.6-73.9 West 3/14/2013 171 28 35.1 52.2-62.7 59.3-72.4 West 3/15/2013 154 79 38.7 52.8-64.5 60.9-74.3 West 3/16/2013 133 60 40.2 52.2-67.4 60.7-77.5 West 3/17/2013 2 163 38 40.5 53.2-65.5 61.2-76.1 West Total 2,460 1,222 Average 154 76 43.3 5 1 3/2/2013 First Aircraft Noise Event was measured at 6:00 a.m. for this survey. 2 3/17/2013 Last Aircraft Noise Event was measured at 11:23 p.m. for this survey. 3 The Amount of PCA Overflights through the defined cylindrical airspace is for a 24-hour period starting from midnight to 11:59:59 p.m. 4 Aircraft Noise Events include all SFO Aircraft, Multiple SFO Aircraft, Non-SFO Aircraft, and Simultaneous SFO and Non-SFO Aircraft. 5 This figure is an Energy Average 6 Lmax The maximum noise level is a measurement of the peak level for a noise event. 7 SEL Sound Exposure Level of a noise event is measured over time between the initial and final points when the noise level exceeds a predetermined threshold and energy compressed into one second. 8 Flow pattern is the general flight paths used by aircraft to land and take-off based on wind direction and speed.
Page 8 Table 4 Daily Aircraft Noise Measurements at Tioga Way Date Amount of PCA Overflights 3 Amount of Aircraft Noise Events 4 Aircraft CNEL (db) L max 6 Range (db) SEL 7 Flow Pattern 8 3/2/2013 1 141 58 39.5 52.8-63.5 60.8-74.1 West 3/3/2013 164 113 42.8 53.6-66.7 60.5-77.8 West 3/4/2013 181 81 42.0 52.5-65.5 60.5-75.4 West 3/5/2013 89 44 41.8 52.3-69.3 60.2-78.5 West&SE 3/6/2013 117 88 42.2 52.7-65.7 60.5-75.3 West&SE 3/7/2013 182 144 44.8 52.9-65.8 60.4-75.6 West 3/8/2013 138 105 47.2 52.6-67.8 60.4-76.5 West 3/9/2013 170 73 45.3 53.2-68.1 61.7-77.0 West 3/10/2013 176 45 38.4 52.8-60.2 62.1-72.6 West 3/11/2013 173 71 40.5 52.7-62.0 60.5-72.4 West 3/12/2013 152 20 34.1 53.9-65.1 61.9-75.1 West 3/13/2013 156 35 36.1 53.0-61.6 60.7-70.8 West 3/14/2013 171 21 32.5 53.7-60.8 62.9-70.8 West 3/15/2013 154 52 36.0 52.5-61.4 61.5-73.4 West 3/16/2013 133 57 39.3 52.9-67.9 61.6-79.5 West 3/17/2013 2 163 30 37.7 53.0-62.3 60.6-72.1 West Total 2,460 1,037 Average 154 65 41.7 5 1 3/2/2013 First Aircraft Noise Event was measured at 6:01 a.m. for this survey. 2 3/17/2013 Last Aircraft Noise Event was measured at 10:52 p.m. for this survey. 3 The Amount of PCA Overflights through the defined cylindrical airspace is for a 24-hour period starting from midnight to 11:59:59 p.m. 4 Aircraft Noise Events include all SFO Aircraft, Multiple SFO Aircraft, Non-SFO Aircraft, and Simultaneous SFO and Non-SFO Aircraft. 5 This figure is an Energy Average 6 Lmax The maximum noise level is a measurement of the peak level for a noise event. 7 SEL Sound Exposure Level of a noise event is measured over time between the initial and final points when the noise level exceeds a predetermined threshold and energy compressed into one second. 8 Flow pattern is the general flight paths used by aircraft to land and take-off based on wind direction and speed.
Page 9 Aircraft operations detected at the locations resulted in a 24 hour daily CNEL of 32.5 to 48.6 db, 24 hour daily Community CNEL of 43.8 to 77.7 db and a 24 hour daily total CNEL of 44.5 to 77.7 db. The arithmetic average exposure of daily Aircraft CNEL was 41.7 db for Grand Teton Drive and 40.0 db for Tioga Way, the Community CNEL was 50.0 db and 48.1 db, respectively, while the Total CNEL was 68.8 db, respectively. These results are consistent with aircraft noise levels outside of SFO s 65 db CNEL noise contour. Figure 6 Daily Aircraft and Community CNEL Noise Standard
Page 10 Page 10 How these measurements rank with other communities for the same time period. Figure 7 Noise Climate Comparison Noise Standard Noise Standard
Page 11 Resident s Observations During the measurement period residents hosting the portable monitors were asked to note dates and times of very loud noise or unusaul flight operations they might experience. These sepcific incidences that are listed below were researched. The identified flight operations along with the noise levels measured are detailed in Appendix B. Grand Teton Drive Here is a list of planes that I noticed. I only charted from 3/2 to 3/8 3/2 6:08 am 6:13 am 8am 3/3 all pm 1:16 1:31 1:32 1:48 4:48 4:50 4:56 3/4 all am 7:00 7:10 7:20 7:26 7:35 7:40 3/5 all am 6:10 6:14 6:50 7:00 7:05 7:10 7:25 7:43 3/6 7:31 am 3/7 all am 7:09 7:15 7:30 7:35 7:40 3/8 all am 6:31 6:41 6:54 6:55 6:59 7:40 7:45 Tioga Way 3/7 4:04 a.m. I was awaken 3/13 In the time range of 11:30 11:35 p.m. awaken by what sounded like two aircraft in takeoff mode.
Page 12 Appendix A To express the total sound energy of a noise event, the metric Sound Exposure Level (SEL) is used. The SEL of any noise event is all of the event's energy expressed in a reference period time of one second. A noise level of 80 decibels (db) lasting only 1 second would have a SEL of 80 db, but if the event lasted 2 seconds the SEL would be 83 db. In the example below the SEL is calculated for an aircraft noise event that has a duration of 5 seconds and maximum noise level (Lmax) of 65 db. This noise event is numerically equivalent to a SEL of 69.6 db. Sound Exposure Level Formula: Where SEL = sound exposure level L i = sound level for a given one second time period n = number of seconds during the measurement period SEL calculation example: The rows below list the 1 second decibel levels and the corresponding energy levels of the 5 seconds duration aircraft noise event. The energy levels are summed together in order to calculate the SEL value of the aircraft noise event. Seconds Sound Level Energy Level 1 60 db 1000000.0 2 63 db 1995262.3 3 65 db (LMax) 3162277.7 4 63 db 1995262.3 5 60 db 1000000.0 Total Energy Aircraft Noise Event SEL 9152802.3 69.6 db Airports located in California use the metric known as Community Noise Equivalent Level (CNEL) to assess and manage aircraft noise levels in the community. This time-weighted, cumulative metric accounts for increased sensitivity to noise during the evening and nighttime hours; aircraft noise in the evening is weight an additional 4.77 db, while noise in the nighttime hours are weight an additional 10 db. CNEL is calculated using the following formula:
Page 13 Appendix A - continued CNEL calculation example showing 10 aircraft noise events in a 24 hour period: Time of Day Hour SEL (db) Weighting (db) Weighted SEL (db) Energy Night Midnight 86.1 10 96.1 4073802778.0 Night 1:00 a.m. 10 Night 2:00 a.m. 10 Night 3:00 a.m. 10 Night 4:00 a.m. 10 Night 5:00 a.m. 90.0 10 100.0 10000000000.0 Night 6:00 a.m. 86.1 10 96.1 4073802778.0 Day 7:00 a.m. 0 Day 8:00 a.m. 93.6 0 93.6 2290867652.8 Day 9:00 a.m. 0 Day 10:00 a.m. 82.6 0 82.6 181970085.9 Day 11:00 a.m. 0 Day Noon 90.3 0 90.3 1071519305.2 Day 1:00 p.m. 0 Day 2:00 p.m. 0 Day 3:00 p.m. 0 Day 4:00 p.m. 0 Day 5:00 p.m. 94.8 0 94.8 3019951720.4 Day 6:00 p.m. 0 Evening 7:00 p.m. 4.77 Evening 8:00 p.m. 4.77 Evening 9:00 p.m. 86.1 4.77 90.9 1221799660.2 Night 10:00 p.m. 85.2 10 95.2 3311311214.8 Night 11:00 p.m. 89.5 10 99.5 8912509381.3 Total Energy 38157534576.7 Aircraft CNEL 56.4 db
Page 14 Appendix B Identified Flight Activity with Noise Measurement (if available) Hawaiian Airlines Flight HAL17 Medical Emergency Onboard which Required Expeditious Handling to Runway 28R HAL17 s Point-of-Closest Approach Distance Measurements to Portable Monitors SEL (db) 72.8 68.2 LMax (db) 63.8 57.4 Duration (in seconds) 29 22
Page 15 Appendix B Continued Identified Flight Activities and Correlated Noise Levels
Page 16 Appendix B - Figure 1 SEL (db) N/A N/A LMax (db) N/A N/A Duration (in seconds) N/A N/A
Page 17 Appendix B - Figure 2 SEL (db) 63.2 N/A LMax (db) 53.6 N/A Duration (in seconds) 13.0 N/A
Page 18 Appendix B - Figure 3 SEL (db) 71.4 68.7 LMax (db) 57.4 55.1 Duration (in seconds) 39.0 34.0
Page 19 Appendix B - Figure 4 SEL (db) N/A N/A LMax (db) N/A N/A Duration (in seconds) N/A N/A
Page 20 Appendix B - Figure 5 SEL (db) 72.3 67.4 LMax (db) 59.3 57.7 Duration (in seconds) 53.0 23.0
Page 21 Appendix B - Figure 6 SEL (db) 72.0 71.3 LMax (db) 60.0 57.9 Duration (in seconds) 44.0 40.0
Page 22 Appendix B - Figure 7 SEL (db) 74.7 73.1 LMax (db) 62.1 60.2 Duration (in seconds) 55.0 51.0
Page 23 Appendix B - Figure 8 SEL (db) 71.6 64.9 LMax (db) 57.3 56.5 Duration (in seconds) 56.0 16.0
Page 24 Appendix B - Figure 9 SEL (db) N/A N/A LMax (db) N/A N/A Duration (in seconds) N/A N/A
Page 25 Appendix B - Figure 10 SEL (db) 72.6 66.4 LMax (db) 61.2 55.6 Duration (in seconds) 43.0 24.0
Page 26 Appendix B - Figure 11 SEL (db) N/A N/A LMax (db) N/A N/A Duration (in seconds) N/A N/A
Page 27 Appendix B - Figure 12 SEL (db) 66.2 N/A LMax (db) 55.1 N/A Duration (in seconds) 20.0 N/A
Page 28 Appendix B - Figure 13 SEL (db) 61.6 N/A LMax (db) 54.8 N/A Duration (in seconds) 8.0 N/A
Page 29 Appendix B - Figure 14 SEL (db) N/A N/A LMax (db) N/A N/A Duration (in seconds) N/A N/A
Page 30 Appendix B - Figure 15 SEL (db) N/A N/A LMax (db) N/A N/A Duration (in seconds) N/A N/A
Page 31 Appendix B - Figure 16 SEL (db) N/A N/A LMax (db) N/A N/A Duration (in seconds) N/A N/A
Page 32 Appendix B - Figure 17 SEL (db) 74.7 65.2 LMax (db) 62.2 56.3 Duration (in seconds) 68.0 16.0
Page 33 Appendix B - Figure 18 SEL (db) N/A N/A LMax (db) N/A N/A Duration (in seconds) N/A N/A
Page 34 Appendix B - Figure 19 SEL (db) 70.9 64.9 LMax (db) 61.6 56.0 Duration (in seconds) 25.0 11.0
Page 35 Appendix B - Figure 20 SEL (db) 73.1 72.4 LMax (db) 60.1 58.4 Duration (in seconds) 49.0 50.0
Page 36 Appendix B - Figure 21 SEL (db) 72.3 71.0 LMax (db) 61.8 59.0 Duration (in seconds) 40.0 41.0
Page 37 Appendix B - Figure 22 SEL (db) 64.2 N/A LMax (db) 55.5 N/A Duration (in seconds) 15.0 N/A
Page 38 Appendix B - Figure 23 SEL (db) 69.2 63.6 LMax (db) 56.9 56.8 Duration (in seconds) 33.0 10.0
Page 39 Appendix B - Figure 24 SEL (db) N/A N/A LMax (db) N/A N/A Duration (in seconds) N/A N/A
Page 40 Appendix B - Figure 25 SEL (db) 62.4 66.1 LMax (db) 55.5 55.0 Duration (in seconds) 8.0 24.0
Page 41 Appendix B - Figure 26 SEL (db) N/A N/A LMax (db) N/A N/A Duration (in seconds) N/A N/A
Page 42 Appendix B - Figure 27 SEL (db) N/A N/A LMax (db) N/A N/A Duration (in seconds) N/A N/A
Page 43 Appendix B - Figure 28 SEL (db) 73.5 72.9 LMax (db) 61.9 60.0 Duration (in seconds) 36.0 34.0
Page 44 Appendix B - Figure 29 SEL (db) N/A N/A LMax (db) N/A N/A Duration (in seconds) N/A N/A
Page 45 Appendix B - Figure 30 SEL (db) N/A N/A LMax (db) N/A N/A Duration (in seconds) N/A N/A
Page 46 Appendix B - Figure 31 SEL (db) 73.0 72.2 LMax (db) 60.9 57.9 Duration (in seconds) 42.0 49.0
Page 47 Appendix B - Figure 32 SEL (db) N/A N/A LMax (db) N/A N/A Duration (in seconds) N/A N/A
Page 48 Appendix B - Figure 33 SEL (db) 73.7 73.6 LMax (db) 61.2 62.8 Duration (in seconds) 40.0 33.0
Page 49 Appendix B - Figure 34 SEL (db) 75.7 76.3 LMax (db) 63.4 64.3 Duration (in seconds) 44.0 44.0
Page 50 Appendix B - Figure 35 SEL (db) 75.6 75.4 LMax (db) 61.5 63.2 Duration (in seconds) 61.0 51.0
Page 51 Appendix B - Figure 36 SEL (db) 71.3 69.4 LMax (db) 62.1 57.2 Duration (in seconds) 38.0 30.0
Page 52 Appendix B - Figure 37 SEL (db) 76.4 71.7 LMax (db) 66.9 58.1 Duration (in seconds) 45.0 43.0