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Friday, June 17, 2016

Plane Spotting - Why They're Rumbling Over Anchorage This Week

China Air
If you drive out to the very end of Northern Lights Blvd and then past Point Woronzof, you'll see guys standing by their cars with telephoto lenses taking pictures of planes at the Anchorage airport.







But this last week I've been able to do that from my back yard deck.  Instead of flying off over Cook Inlet, planes are flying over the Anchorage bowl.  LOUDLY!  And with the great weather we've been having, I've been spending a lot of time on the deck, which has become our de facto dining room and my office.



UPS



They rumble over sometimes minutes apart, sometimes more.  It's pretty loud.








Polar



So I called the airport to see what's up.


I talked to John Stocker who told me that there is construction work on the north-south runway - things that have to be done every year and in the summer - like painting markings.  The noise will continue until June 25, except for Sundays.

I asked what happens during the night (since the noise stops during that time.)  Work on the runway is from 7:30am until 7:30 pm.

Korean Air
Mr. Stocker said the project was well publicized.  That may be, but I missed their publicity.  I did try the airport website before calling, but my search didn't yield any answers.  They may be there, but even looking at a section called 'noise abasement'  I couldn't find anything specific about this week, just long term planning reports. I even looked at the pdf on construction projects which doesn't seem to include this.  Each project talks about benefits, but they don't talk about negative impacts like noise.  It's hard to even figure out that the north-south runway is involved.

In any case, until June 25 - another week - we have a steady flow of jets flying over the bowl.  
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1 comment:

  1. UnknownSunday, June 19, 2016 at 8:02:00 PM AKDT

    I like the aircraft. I enjoy watching the aircraft take off and land too. It is a good indicator of industry. The noise is just part of city life. I live over near the end of the park strip, and can hear the jets from Elmendorf, the commuter planes from somewhere across the inlet (speaking of which, there goes one now) and intermittently helicopters zipping about. I'm from the interior, so I know silence. I enjoy that too. I also have nice memories of the Everts Air fuel hauler flying back to Fairbanks right around 940 pm 3-4 nights a week. I'd think, there goes my guy. Then, there's the military. Helos and fighter jets. OH, and speaking of military, when I lived way outside of McGrath on our remote parcel that we'd staked and built a cabin on, the military endlessly entertained us with multiple types of jets zipping back and forth, flying straight up, and doing steep dives, and doing barrel rolls. I even wrote a letter to Alaska Mag in the 80's commenting to the Alaska military that the pilots could have at least hooked our mail as they were roaring up the Big River below the deck. For that letter I received a nice letter from one of the commanders of the flight crew at the time. Speaking of noise, then there is the Alaska Railroad. Always nice to hear them blow the horn. Safety feature that, sadly, some people ignore to their peril. Ahhh gotta love Alaska. BTW, there are some dandy ear plugs/hearing protectors out there that are quite comfortable. Also, listening to music with ear buds is can be helpful. Cheerio, Theresa

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