If you live close to the airport, you may hear noise from aircraft operating on the ground, this can occur due to:
- Aircraft traveling between the runway and stands (their ‘parking space’).
- Using reverse thrust to increase braking during landing.
- Aircraft on their stands with their power units running.
- Engine testing after maintenance.
At London Gatwick, we work closely with Air Traffic Control, airlines, ground handlers and engineering teams to manage ground noise. In particular at London Gatwick we:
- Have strict controls on engine testing and has enforced limits for the maximum number of tests that can take place over a rolling 6 month period.
- Work with Air Traffic Control to cut down the amount of time that aircraft wait to take off, or are taxiing, so that the engines aren’t running for longer than they should be.
- Work with our airline partners to support the use of single or reduced engine taxi procedures.
- Provide electrical ground power and air conditioning units to remove the need to keep noisy aircraft auxiliary power units running when on stands.
- Encourage pilots not to use reverse thrust (a way of slowing aircraft down once they have landed) on landing between 23:00 and 06:00, except in the interests of safety.
Ground noise video:
Information pack:
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