Recently moved into area, suffering with plane noise, need advice

[BrendanC]

On 04/07/2024 at 13:23, Froglander said:

Which road do you live in?

I'd rather not say exactly, but suffice to say, if you draw a straight line from the southern runway, going due East, it will actually bisect my house. So, I get the planes literally directly overhead. It could not be more accurate. The tailfins appear as blades because I'm looking at them straight on, not at angle.

[Forest Hill Climber]

14 hours ago, BrendanC said:

I'd rather not say exactly, but suffice to say, if you draw a straight line from the southern runway, going due East, it will actually bisect my house. So, I get the planes literally directly overhead. It could not be more accurate. The tailfins appear as blades because I'm looking at them straight on, not at angle.

Are you sure that they are Heathrow planes? The area also suffers incoming aircraft to City Airport. On some days there are both. The noise is real and measurable - the problem is that there are no standards and therefore no enforcement.

[BrendanC]

Yes, they are definitely Heathrow planes. I can see them on Flight Radar, and then watch them overhead. The City planes really don't bother me as much. It's the ones that go directly overhead, so close I can see the lettering on the underside.

[IlonaM]

Hi BrendanC,

Me again. Just another thought popped into mind in response to your last post ... Step away from Flight Radar!! You are expending too much of your valuable concentration and attention on these planes. You know they are heading to Heathrow, so give yourself a break and do something you love instead, or at least which takes your attention away from them. Easy to say I know, I am not immune from overfocusing myself, but sometimes we need to redirect our attention in order to reduce the perception we have of something that drives us up the wall and its impact on our well-being.

With best wishes,

Ilona

[BrendanC]

Sure, and that's what I've done. I initially started using it because I read someone online suggesting it was a good idea to understand the mechanics of what was going on. But I totally get what you're saying - same goes for the Planes Over London site. Both gone now.

[IlonaM]

Excellent! You know what used to take me away from everything? When I started researching my family history - I could lose entire days, I was so in the zone.

[jazzer]

It's London with three airports, what did you expect????

[Ginster]

Just a small point to add that you do indeed over time block it out.  I know this as I lived in ED from 2004-2022 and apart from the occasional 4.30am annoyance (they didn't always wake me, but if they did I popped earplugs in if I didn't have them in already) they start to blend into the general noise of ED.

We've moved away now and when I visited last month I was amazed at how loud and frequent they seemed, I was constantly looking up and surprised.  So the contrast was the surprise as clearly I lived with it fine for 18 years and it didn't register - just returning did it seem louder. 

At current house we had a really noisy manhole cover that made a huge "derdunk" sound whenever a car drove over - it was initially amusing, then annoying, then it really started to get to me after a few months so I understand how you can make yourself more wound up about these things.  It's finally fixed but had it not been I'd have had to live with it as we're in a rental so can't change the windows.  My daughter used to make it a game guessing if an approaching car was going to hit it or not.

Some great suggestions above - hope you can work through it!

Edited July 10 by Ginster

[BrendanC]

I get your point about blending in with the general noise, but the thing is, I chose the street I live in now because it seemed especially quiet! So there really is no background traffic noise or anything to mask it.

Thank you for your comment though. Fwiw, I've had private correspondence with someone who messaged me regarding this thread with their own experiences, and they've really helped me out. 

Edited July 11 by BrendanC

[Froglander]

I feel like I am now smelling aircraft emissions now where I don’t remember having this problem before.  Does anyone else have this problem? 

[Baroness Millhaven]

Sorry I'm a bit late to this @BrendanC I do sympathise. I suspect that you aren't too far away from us - I did say to the Baron a few days ago that the plane noise appeared to be worse again and I particularly notice the planes flying over the rear of our home from the kitchen. I do hope you find a satisfactory solution and some peace soon 🙏

[ribrob]

You could try one of the many white (pink, brown, green etc) noise apps on the app stores.

They’re very good at masking other noises (people use them often for tinnitus). They can take a bit of getting used to but they do help.

[picmicnic]

I had similar experience to you and others on here. Have Lived in the area since 2011. While I notice the airplane noise less (haven’t really thought about it in last two years) it did bother me in the first years. Things that helped - wax ear plugs and a loft conversion. 

[mikeb]

I have lived here for years and thought I had got used to the planes but Christ they are loud tonight …

[mrwb]

Double glazing is really a must in bedrooms I think, with that I am ok with it. In really hot weather, if you've got to have a window ajar I really notice how loud it is. Luckily it's not really hot that often and they seem to rotate the flight path so only some days it's bad.

[Soleila]

Well at least you didn’t live here when we used to have Concorde 😂

can’t lie though, I actually find it comforting, haven’t known anything different and only realised it was a thing when a visitor pointed it out last year. It’s when the helicopters come around that it gets annoying and that used to be fairly regular too. Before the area… changed…