Why was that plane so loud?
Usually it was departing at high thrust, was lower than the usual traffic because the runway or flight path changed, or the weather carried the sound further, since low cloud and temperature inversions bend sound back toward the ground. Military jets, older aircraft and helicopters are louder in their own right.
It was taking off
Departures are the loudest thing most people hear from airliners. A jet leaving the runway is at or near full takeoff power, and it stays there until it has climbed clear of the airport, typically somewhere between about 800 and 1,500 feet up, before the crew cuts back to climb thrust. If you live under the first few miles of a departure path, you get the loud part. Heavy aircraft on long flights and hot days both slow the climb, so the same jet passes lower and louder.
Arrivals are quieter but lower, and right by the airport you may hear the roar of reverse thrust as a jet brakes on the runway.
The flight path moved
If planes suddenly sound louder, they may simply be closer. Airports switch runways when the wind changes, and a runway closure or a new procedure can move traffic onto a different path for days or weeks. Why the flight paths over you change.
The weather carried it
Sound travels differently from day to day. Airport noise offices hear the same pattern every year:
- Low cloud tends to bend sound back down toward the ground, so an overcast day can be noticeably louder.
- Temperature inversions, a layer of warmer air sitting above cooler air, do the same. They are common on calm, clear nights and early mornings, which is one reason night flights can seem so loud.
- Wind carries sound downwind, so the same aircraft can be loud one day and barely audible the next.
It was a military jet
Fighters like the F-35 and F-16 are much louder than airliners. Their engines are built for thrust, not quiet, and in afterburner they spray fuel directly into the exhaust for extra power, which produces a deep, tearing roar you feel in your chest. Fighters often depart in afterburner, and they also fly fast and low on training routes, arriving before you hear them. Big propeller transports like the C-130 have a heavy drone of their own.
It was an older aircraft
Each generation of jet engines is quieter than the last. Modern airliners like the A320neo and 737 MAX have wide, slow-turning fans that are much quieter than the engines on older types. Older aircraft, like the 757, are still flying in large numbers, especially as freighters, and cargo flights often operate at night.
It was a helicopter or a propeller
- Helicopters are loudest when they’re low and when they descend or turn tightly, which makes the blades hit the swirling air left by the blade ahead. That’s the “whop-whop” blade slap. A twin-rotor Chinook thumps hard enough to rattle windows.
- Propellers buzz louder as the blade tips approach the speed of sound, which is why some small planes sound far bigger than they are at full power on takeoff.
When to contact the noise office
Most large airports run a noise office with a complaint line or online form, and that’s the place to start. Note the date, time and direction the aircraft was heading. In the US, the FAA (not the airport) designs flight paths, and the FAA’s Aviation Noise Ombudsman handles noise policy concerns. For military aircraft, contact the community relations or public affairs office of the nearest base. A live aircraft map gives you the aircraft’s exact type, time and altitude, which makes any report more useful. How low aircraft are allowed to fly.
