Vintage ATCO's mention of LADACAN reminds me of the rather cavalier attitude that Autair displayed towards the disturbance caused by their newly introduced BAC 111s.
I remember one summer night shift in the late sixties at a time when three one-elevens were scheduled one after another to perform an overnight rotation to Alicante. The crews used to compete to see who could achieve the quickest round trip by the end of the season - I digress. On this occasion just after the first departure I received a very irate telephone call from an incensed member of the public some few miles distant who then threw his receiver out of the bedroom window so that I could listen to the diminishing roar of the Speys as they climbed upwards into the clear night sky. Whilst the caller hauled his phone back up through the roses and wisteria the second one-eleven blasted off from the runway. I then appraised the complainant of the situation and apologized which resulted in an even greater diatribe after which the receiver was again flung out of the window with renewed vigour. I took this opportunity to hang up.
On another occasion a milder mannered old gent whose Saturday afternoon nap had been disturbed rang to complain about "That blasted little blow-torch that goes round and round." I've always remembered this as the most splendid description of the ill-fated H.S 125 G-AVGW which was performing circuit training on that summer day so long ago.
It must have been in 1968 or then abouts that one summer night an urgently needed one-eleven was given an incautious full power engine run outside the hangar at one o'clock in the morning. This resulted in a delegation, really a misnomer for a rather nasty looking rabble of residents, suddenly arriving on the airport apron outside our office window. Dressed in pyjamas, sweaters, dressing gowns, shod in 'Bovver Boots' and clasping a couple of pick axe handles, their mood could fairly be described as ugly.
I woke our duty Ops Manager Pete Lingard from a very deep slumber on the floor of his darkened office and half awake he stumbled outside to confront the mob. I remember how very well he dealt with an awkward situation. He immediately identified the ring-leader and just able to make his voice heard above the din of the Speys invited the tough into his office. Quite what was said after all this time I cannot recall however after a minute or two the situation was calmed and the protestors melted away into what was left of the night.
In 1972 John Kitchen wrote a thesis on The Expansion of Luton Airport. This is a tiny edited extract:
Noise Characteristics of Selected Aircraft in relation to Luton at a level 3.5 nautical miles from the start of roll with a 4 Degree Climb.
Tristar 95 PNdB
B737 96 PNdB
BAC 111 102 PNdB
B707 108 PNdB
Source B.F. Collins (Airport Director)from data supplied by Rolls Royce and DTI.
Last edited by OUAQUKGF Ops; 12th Nov 2017 at 08:40.