8 - Transport Noise

Summary

AIRCRAFT NOISE

We turn our attention, first, to the regulation of noise from civil aircraft and second, to noise from military aircraft.

Civil aircraft

Aircraft can cause noise problems for the community when the aircraft is taking off or landing at an airport, when the aircraft is in flight or when it is manoeuvring or even stationary with engines or auxiliary power units running (generically described as ‘ground noise’). Therefore, the relevant statutory controls can roughly be divided into controls that relate to noise from the flight (or navigation) of aircraft, and controls that specifically relate to noise to aircraft from aerodromes.

Flight noise

Given that the flight paths of aircraft during take-off and landing are often directly over houses and other occupied premises, the noise that is generated by aircraft may cause considerable annoyance to individuals who are living beneath such flightpaths. However, the Civil Aviation Act 1982 (the 1982 Act) provides that no action may lie in respect of either trespass or nuisance by reason only of the flight of an aircraft over any property at a height above the ground that, having regard to wind, weather and all the circumstances of the case, is reasonable, or the ordinary incidents of such flight, provided that the provisions of any Air Navigation Order and of any orders under s 62 have been complied with.

Furthermore, aircraft noise (from both civil and military aircraft) does not constitute a statutory nuisance, in terms of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (EPA).

The application of s 76(1) of the 1982 Act to noise from helicopters fell to be discussed in the Court of Appeal case of Peires v Bickerton's Aerodromes Ltd. In that case the claimant lived in close proximity to the defendant's aerodrome. She brought an action for damages and an injunction to restrain the defendant from the continuation of a nuisance, which she alleged was caused by noise from exercises that were carried out by helicopters, on that part of the aerodrome which was situated closest to her property. Those exercises were part of the mandatory training requirements for a helicopter pilot. The exercises in question consisted of helicopters landing, taking off, hovering, turning through 180 degrees and landing again. The defendant asserted that the claimant's action was barred, inter alia, by s 76(1) of the Act.