Representation by A Taylor
- Date submitted
- 30 September 2018
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
The west side of Ramsgate is approximately three quarters of a mile from runway 28 at Manston. Some people believe that this is a sufficient distance from the noise etc. But what many people do not realise is that the aircraft are not in fact three quarters of a mile away, they are in fact 300 feet away. This is proven by experience and theory. The theory aspect is that heavy aircraft must follow a glide slope of 3 degrees when landing. The 3 degrees implies a height of 300 feet per one mile of distance from touchdown on the runway. So obviously habitations at a distance of one mile from touchdown will have the aircraft 300 feet above them. Habitations 2 miles away will of course have the aircraft 600 feet above them. That is the glide slope theory, and the 3 degree glide slope can not be changed appreciably. The experience aspect is that when heavy jets started using Manston the residents of Ramsgate have suffered extreme noise levels even from modern so called quiet aircraft. Noise levels were in the region of 90 to 102dB using the A weighting of sound level. No-one should have to live 250 feet below a huge 200 ton aircraft landing with engines screaming at approx 90 dB. Historically Manston was created for the use of small piston engine warplanes that did not even fly over Ramsgate when landing because they approached from the south and turned to line up with runway 28 over the surrounding fields just a few yards from the runway which as a matter of interest is what the Red Arrows often did when landing here and one sometimes was not even aware that they had arrived. However heavy airliners need to line up their approach several miles away from touchdown and must therefore overfly Ramsgate. In short, the proximity of the town of Ramsgate makes the change of aircraft type from small military planes to heavy jet airliners unacceptable.