Potentials and limits of noise abatement flight procedures

During recent years, the scientific activities related to noise mitigation in the environment of airports have been focused strongly on the development of noise abatement flight procedures. Such procedures – which are part of the “Balanced Approach” to aircraft noise management that is recommended by the International Civil Aviation Organization ICAO – cannot be designed effectively without the use of aircraft noise calculation programs. This paper gives an overview on the potentials of noise optimized operational procedures as well as their limits due to flight-mechanical constraints. Moreover, it will discuss the specific demands on the noise calculation models used to develop them. Special attention is paid to the definition of noise optimized approach procedures and the corresponding need to model airframe noise.