Noise Contours (One Decibel) for King County International Airport

Noise contours are based on noise and contour modeling. Contour modeling is a very key element of the FAA FAR Part 150 Study. It is imperative that these contours be accurate for the meaningful analysis of airport and roadway noise impacts. The noise contours can then be used to predict the changes to the noise environment as a result of any of the development alternatives under consideration. The FAA Integrated Noise Model (INM) Version 6 was used to model the flight operations contours at King County International Airport (KCIA). INM Version 6 was released for use in October 1999. One of the most important factors in generating accurate noise contours is the collection of accurate operational data. The INM programs require the input of the physical and operational characteristics of the airport. Physical characteristics include runway coordinates, airport altitude, and temperature and optionally, topographical data. Operational characteristics include various types of aircraft data. This includes not only the aircraft types and flight tracks, but also departure procedures, arrival procedures and stage lengths that are specific to the operations at the airport. Aircraft data needed to generate noise contours include: number of aircraft operations by type, types of aircraft, day/evening/night time distribution by type, flight tracks, flight track utilization by type, flight profiles, typical operational procedures, and average meteorological conditions.