Rochester Airport

Project Overview

We were appointed to assess the noise impacts arising from the redevelopment of Rochester Airport, taking into account the conversion of a grass runway into a tarmac paved runway and the inclusion of two proposed helipads to the south of the airport, for which planning permission was sought.

The Challenge

Provide the most representative impact noise assessment of the future airport’s operations, both in terms of aircraft noise and ground noise.

Our Solution

The project considered both the impact of noise arising from airborne aircraft and noise generated by aircraft ground operations. We produced noise contours for the existing air-traffic levels at Rochester Airport, using the ‘Integrated Noise Model (INM)’ modelling software, developed by the United States’ Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

These noise contours followed the requirements of DEFRA Strategic Noise Mapping of Non-Designated Airports. As INM only considers ‘airborne aircraft airport noise’ during take-off or landing, noise from ground operations was assessed using the Cadna/A noise modelling approach, in accordance with the ISO 9613 prediction methodology, in conjunction with a set of on-site noise measurements to characterise the most frequent aircrafts using the airport.