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www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Thursday, March 5, 2015 | 4 MAG hopes to make change here on the flight path by Michael Gregory Oakville Beaver Staff Oakville is preparing its case to lobby Canada's airspace regulators with a view to securing changes in the standards for planes flying into Pearson International Airport -- and the hope such changes will alleviate the traffic noise plaguing local residents, said Ward 5 Town and Regional Councillor Jeff Knoll. "The big issue is the way that airplanes are landed by air traffic control and... the rules that pilots have to adhere to in terms of altitude and speed," Knoll said. "We're hoping that, based on the information we have, there are some viable alternatives to make amendments that will both keep the planes higher, and change some of their methods of dealing with preparing for landing." The Mayor's Advisory Group (MAG) on aviation noise was promised during last fall's municipal election, as airplane noise was a hotbutton issue in the local election. The MAG held its first public meeting at Town Hall Feb. 19. Notice about the meeting was posted on the Town's website Feb. 17. Knoll chairs the MAG, which includes ward councillors from across north Oakville. Knoll is scheduled to sit down with Nav Canada, the operators of Canada's civil air navigation service in mid-March. The Greater Toronto Airports Authority's Residents of north Oakville have been complaining for some time about increased airplane noise. Now the Town of Oakville has a committee that is hoping to get something done about it. | Oakville Beaver file photo (GTAA) statistics gathered between January and October of 2014 show 14 residents filed complaints concerning aviation noise in the Halton and Oakville federal ridings. However, the GTAA previously recorded only complaints received within 10 nautical miles (approximately 18.5 kilometres) of the airport -- an area that includes some of Joshua's Creek and Oakville's agricultural areas. That restriction was lifted as of Jan. 1 as a result of a review by the GTAA and its Community Environment & Noise Advisory Committee (CENAC). "There are lots of things happening and it's all quite positive at this point so I'm just hoping that we maintain that momentum," Knoll said, who regularly attends CENAC sessions in Mississauga. At the MAG meeting, Oakville councillors heard delegations from those representing the Toronto Aviation Noise Group (TANG). One of the members who spoke was Capt. David Inch, a north Oakville resident with 35 years of service as a commercial airline pilot, domestically and abroad. "It is safe, efficient, environmentally-friendly and noise-friendly to have aircraft on the arrival paths remain at higher altitudes," he told the Oakville Beaver. According to Inch, a plane's wing flaps is one of the major contributing factors to aircraft noise. "When we extend flaps we create a lot more noise," he said. "By moving the aircraft lower it doesn't give a chance for that noise to attenuate." Airports worldwide use the Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System (STAR) to communicate flight path landing procedures, including prescribed speeds and altitude, to descending planes. The STARs were remapped in 2012 by Nav Canada and moved approximately 1.5 kilometres south of Dundas Street West to be over north Oakville neighbourhoods. see Airports on p.13 Voted the Best in Oakville We Invite you to find out why! Call today for your personal tour. We'd love to have you join us! Retirement Living 380 Sherin Drive, Oakville, Ontario (905) 847-1413 www.vistamere.ca At Its Best