We Stink!

[Pixilated]

Same kind of people who move out to the country, buy a house next to a farm and then start complaining about cocks crowing, manure smells, getting their car held up on the road by tractors, stock being moved....

OMG, I had some of those in the very first permanent journalism job I held. It was in a tiny town that had ONE stoplight, at the main crossroads, so of course it was in a very rural area. And yeah, there were people who'd moved in from the city griping about the 'spring cleaning' smells from the farm. I am two generations removed from my farming ancestors, but had to join the locals in a good laugh over that one. Where, o refined city dwellers, do you think the milk in your fridge comes from? Or the burgers and steaks on your grill?
Idiots. Needless to say the local councils were less than sympathetic.

On a related note, every now and then you hear about someone trying to pass laws under the guise of "noise ordinances" to prevent trains from blowing their whistles at grade crossings at 2am because it annoys people who bought properties next to the tracks without planning ahead who don't like being woken up/annoyed.

Too bad for them that the rules and regulations governing the movement of trains in this country make whistling for grade crossings MANDATORY and are furthermore FEDERAL level regulations i.e. - local law cannot trump them.

The air corridor around here sees a lot of interesting stuff out on maneuvers, aside from the Chinooks and other helicopters we get the occasional F-16, A-10 and C-130.

Maybe the idiots who complain about train whistles should talk to the family of the young guy who was killed a little over a year ago when a passenger train clipped his pickup. I don't know the details -- Did he try to beat the train? Did he not see it coming? It's a very poorly marked track, no lights, no wig-wag, nothing -- but his pickup went airborne and the train (on which I was a passenger) derailed. AFAIK there were no injuries among the train passengers (although I'm sure the guy who'd just gotten out of the hospital after back surgery could've done without the whole incident).

Been there, done that. The house where I grew up is directly under the flight path for Andrews AFB. Military craft, including Air Force 1 and Marine 1, flew over my house all the time.

I tuned the noise out. Didn't even notice it.

Years later, I lived in an apartment near the RR tracks. Tuned that out as well.

Ditto the RR tracks near where I live now. Tuned out. And the local airport (though the traffic is no where near what the Andrews AFB traffic was).

I once lived in an apartment right off a major interstate. Again, tuned it out.

You can learn to live with anything.

Exactly. My maternal grandparents' house was next to the factory Grandpa worked at and there were railroad tracks on the factory property. I used to hear the shunting trains all night. I loved it. And yes, you could smell the diesel fuel. Loved that, too. (Grandma was less than enthusiastic because she used to hang her washing outside to dry as long as the weather permitted ... the smoke blown out of the trains' smokestacks didn't do much for her freshly washed laundry, LOL.)

[Merriweather]

The township eventually told him to move if it made him so upset, there was no law being broken and they rather liked the garage as an tax revenue source as opposed to a weedy eyesore, and the ol' sourpuss sold out and left town.

Shop's still in business today

Dontcha just love happy endings

[AccountingDrone]

Coming up in a few weeks is our local airshow. I'll have the USAF Thunderbirds going right over my roof. Will I complain? No...I will revel in every minute of it.

ROFL I spent 3 years living directly under the flightpath for both Norfolk Operations Base and Langley AFB ... I can ID military aircraft by sound in my sleep =)

[Gizmo]

There was somewhere around me (local enough to be on the news IIRC) about someone who caused the church bells to be silenced due to complaints when they'd only moved in recently. It was a small market town which was *known* for the bells!

Another one was mentioned to me around the time but I forget the location (and I'm fuzzy on the detail so apologies if this is wrong). Moved in, petitioned for a year to get church bells silenced, got their way.... then moved out a year or so later claiming the countryside area was "too quiet".

[MoonCat]

I grew up a couple blocks from train tracks. My siblings and I have always liked the sound of the trains. I now live about a block from train tracks, and the only time I notice anything is occasionally when a really heavily-loaded train goes by, stuff in the house shakes a bit. Frankly, I think my neighbors make more noise than the trains do!

And I've never noticed any diesel smell around here.

[Pagan]

We get some people just bitch, bitch, bitch, bitch, BITCH for 10 days at the beginning of October every year. Pissing and moaning about all the balloons and it scares the dogs! Sorry folks, but the Balloon Fiesta brings in a lot of money. There were over 800,000 visitors last year, it's the biggest one in the world, it's been going on for over 40 years now. You really think the city is going to even think about stopping it? Get your dog some alprazolam and you take one, too.

I'm surprised the apartments were allowed to be built, since an existing airport should have restrictions on the deeds of neighbouring properties governing the height of buildings allowed (after all, a tall building at the end of the runway is a hazard to navigation).

Couldn't be worse than trying to land at Bilbao in Spain!

On a related note, every now and then you hear about someone trying to pass laws under the guise of "noise ordinances" to prevent trains from blowing their whistles at grade crossings at 2am because it annoys people who bought properties next to the tracks without planning ahead who don't like being woken up/annoyed.

Some idiots here pitched a fit after the Rail Runner (local passenger train, only runs from Belen to Santa Fe) went in. Complained about the whistle. Now the latest you will hear the whistle from the Rail Runner is between 11 and 11:30, depending on the day of the week. The whistles from the trains that have been going through ABQ for decades at all hours of the day and night never bothered them.

My first flight out of Phoenix made an emergency landing in El Paso because a passenger was having a medical issue.

You get some really interesting take-off and landing patterns in El Paso. Not only do they have to worry about the Franklin Mountains, but they have to worry about not violating foreign airspace. El Paso/Rio Grande/Ciudad Juárez.

Many, many years ago, for whatever reason, the control tower in El Paso shut down at night and all flights were controlled out of Albuquerque. I forget how many planes were almost flown into the side of the mountains because the controllers in ABQ seemed to be unaware of their existence.

Been there, done that. The house where I grew up is directly under the flight path for Andrews AFB. Military craft, including Air Force 1 and Marine 1, flew over my house all the time.

Here awhile back people in the mountain resorts near Holloman AFB were complaining and bitching about the sonic booms the F-22 Raptors (until they were grounded) would make. They gotta train some time and there's more pilots than planes, you do the math! And you can't tell me you didn't know there was an air force base there. It's been there in one form or another since 1942.

Years later, I lived in an apartment near the RR tracks. Tuned that out as well.

I once lived in an apartment right off a major interstate. Again, tuned it out.

The house that we moved into in 1972 when I was not quite 3, is not only @ 1/3 mile from the train tracks, it's also @ 1/4 mile from I-10. Within a month of us moving in, none of us heard the trains anymore. Every now and then, we'll notice one because it either sounds like it's coming through the backyard or it sounds like the whistle's stuck. And we noticed them more after we got our second dog because she howled at the trains. Sounded like the hound of the Baskerville's out there sometimes....

[fireheart]

Y'know, I'm actually surprised the guy wasn't sticking up for those who WERE towed, or threatening that because he wanted to commit an offence or something

[manybellsdown]

There's an elementary school a few blocks from me. Surrounded on three sides by houses. When my daughter attended said school, they frequently got noise complaints from the neighbors whenever they had any kind of school event that ran late, or was on a weekend. They also frequently complain about the traffic and parking - the school has no parking lot at all, meaning dropoff/pickup times are very crowded.

The school is 85 years old this fall. I very much doubt anyone has lived in one of those houses longer than that.

[Jester]

You get some really interesting take-off and landing patterns in El Paso.

Speaking of interesting landing patterns, I need to comment on a couple of them, one of them related to the original point of this thread....

First, there's San Francisco. Anyone who has flown into SFO probably already knows what I'm talking about. Specifically, coming in over the Bay into SFO. And when I say "over the Bay," I mean just barely over the Bay, by not that much distance. The first time you fly into SFO, if you have a window seat, it can be very nerve-wracking. (I've flown into SFO twice, and the second time enjoyed it a lot more, as I knew what was coming.)

Then there's San Diego. No mountains, no seeming water landings, nothing odd. Except...years ago, some pinhead contractor built a building that goes just about to the limit of the height ceiling for that part of SD, as it is under the landing pattern for the airport. Someone told me about this ahead of time (or perhaps the pilot announced it, can't remember, as this was many years ago), and as we were flying over downtown SD on our way into the airport, sure enough, that building looked WAY too damn close. Apparently the pilots have a real challenge clearing that and still dropping the plane to the right altitude for landing. My props to them, as just landing a plane on its own can't be that easy, but to have to deal with an obstacle like that? Wow.

And I have to ask, what the flying HELL was that pinhead who built that building thinking. I'm pretty sure it was an office building, but if it was an apartment building, how much you want to bet some of the residents of the higher floors bitch about the airplane noise?

[Racket_Man]

Speaking of interesting landing patterns, I need to comment on a couple of them, one of them related to the original point of this thread....

First, there's San Francisco. Anyone who has flown into SFO probably already knows what I'm talking about. Specifically, coming in over the Bay into SFO. And when I say "over the Bay," I mean just barely over the Bay, by not that much distance. The first time you fly into SFO, if you have a window seat, it can be very nerve-wracking. (I've flown into SFO twice, and the second time enjoyed it a lot more, as I knew what was coming.)

YEAH that is kinda fun. and yes I did have a window seat the 3 times I did fly into SFO.

Then there's San Diego. No mountains, no seeming water landings, nothing odd. Except...years ago, some pinhead contractor built a building that goes just about to the limit of the height ceiling for that part of SD, as it is under the landing pattern for the airport. Someone told me about this ahead of time (or perhaps the pilot announced it, can't remember, as this was many years ago), and as we were flying over downtown SD on our way into the airport, sure enough, that building looked WAY too damn close. Apparently the pilots have a real challenge clearing that and still dropping the plane to the right altitude for landing. My props to them, as just landing a plane on its own can't be that easy, but to have to deal with an obstacle like that? Wow.

And I have to ask, what the flying HELL was that pinhead who built that building thinking. I'm pretty sure it was an office building, but if it was an apartment building, how much you want to bet some of the residents of the higher floors bitch about the airplane noise?

There are a couple of buildings like that around O'Hare in CHicago. and yes I have experienced that one too. One of the local TV stations did a story during the 1990s and showed how close the landing gear was to the top of the buildings (a clearance of maybe 50 feet) and GODS help the pilot if there was wind shear on a stormy day.

My daughters middle school was right on one of the approach paths into O'Hare. as in they were about 300 feet or less off the ground at that point with the runway about 3/4 of a mile beyond. The airport had to pay for some extensive sound proofing back in the 80's.

and yes you can get used to the noise unless there was storms going on and there was a LOW cloud base. It was fun to see the TV bounce back and forth in the entertainment cabinet, and pray the windows would not break.

[vikingchyk]

Then there's San Diego. No mountains, no seeming water landings, nothing odd. Except...years ago, some pinhead contractor built a building that goes just about to the limit of the height ceiling for that part of SD, as it is under the landing pattern for the airport. Someone told me about this ahead of time (or perhaps the pilot announced it, can't remember, as this was many years ago), and as we were flying over downtown SD on our way into the airport, sure enough, that building looked WAY too damn close. Apparently the pilots have a real challenge clearing that and still dropping the plane to the right altitude for landing. My props to them, as just landing a plane on its own can't be that easy, but to have to deal with an obstacle like that? Wow.

And I have to ask, what the flying HELL was that pinhead who built that building thinking. I'm pretty sure it was an office building, but if it was an apartment building, how much you want to bet some of the residents of the higher floors bitch about the airplane noise?

That building is a parking garage, so just cranky cars getting buzzed. Yeah, probably not necessary in that location, especially at that height. The "problem" with San Diego is Lindbergh Field was built in the late 1920s, nestled in tricky terrain, and only has one runway. Airlines keep making larger and larger aircraft, then bitching about what a pain it is to land there. Talk about sucky customers

[Chromatix]

Meanwhile, Helsinki-Vantaa airport was *specifically* built in the middle of Vantaa municipality because nobody lived there, and nobody was expected to live there any time soon, and it was good terrain for building a large airport. The old airport, now known as Helsinki-Malmi, is much smaller and is still in active use for private aircraft. Neither municipality involved is stupid enough to zone residential housing in the vicinity of either of them.

From my position just over the municipal border from Helsinki-Vantaa, aircraft noise is still occasionally noticeable, depending on the wind direction (which of course affects which runway is in use and in which direction). But it's far enough away that it is by no means objectionable, because most of the aircraft fly overhead at a fairly decent altitude.

The railway is also very close to me - not exactly the Railview Hotel, but a very easy walk to the station. But there are no level crossings on my line, so horns and bells are not required in general. Even the extremely loud ballast-cleaning machine that has been used this month was essentially inaudible from inside my building. And it's an electric railway, so diesel traction using it is rare (and steam traction non-existent, since it is a dead-end line without run-round facilities at the terminus).

A good strategy for reducing the noise *and* safety problems of a railway is to eliminate all the level crossings. That means building bridges either over or under the railway, or even elevating or tunnelling the whole railway. Of course it costs money to do that, but it might just raise property values.

[PepperElf]

out of curiosity..... do you know if he ever called the cops as he threatened?

I'd like to see the police reaction to that one myself.

[dililis]

was this the complainer?

http://youtu.be/CVdMySWfAIQ

[EricKei]

Where I am -- relatively close to the interstate, I can hear it when it's busy. 1 block from a church, with another church (different denomination) & school literally across the street from there, and another school katty corner to them. Plus we get the soccer moms, who cause problems not with noise and stench, but with excessive speed and reckless driving en route to said interstate onramp.

As for airports? We have a major one on the west edge of town and a commuter/semi military one to the east, along with a military base. We get flyovers on occasion and even the odd chopper or two ^_^ Never bothered me a bit!

'The woods are too dark!'!

Hell, I'd love a place near deep, dark woods...Great way to keep them durn whippersnappers in line by telling them tales of the Loup Garou or somesuch beastie that'll come out of there and eat them if they don't behave

Shop's still in business today

Awesome ^_^