Chapter 3 vs Chapter 4 aircraft

[747FOCAL]

I heard a rumor that Chapter 4 noise certified aircraft will be given preferential treatment within the EU over Chapter 3/Stage 3 aircraft after Jan 1, 2006. I also heard that most major airports will charge more for Chapter 3 aircraft than for Chapter 4 aircraft. Because of this, Airbus has applied to take as many of their aircraft Chapter 4 as possble.

Anyone else hearing the same type things?

[Early Right]

Yup,
And they also want us to whisper during T/O and final approach.....
Cheers Early.

[Semaphore Sam]

Just curious... which aircraft fall under Chapter 3, and which under Chapter 4? I don't have the docs to hand. Does this reference ICAO Annex 16, Vol I, Chaps 3 & 4? And, specifically, where is the Falcon 900 listed? Thanks Sam.

[miss_heard]

Semaphore Sam - there's no 'list' as such - you just need to know what the Chapter 3 cert levels are in order to work out the cumulative margin. Any current production aircraft that already meets Ch3-10dB (with no exceedences, etc) could in theory be re-certified to Ch4 if the manufacturer decided it was a worthwhile expense.

A fairly comprehensive list of cert levels can be found here in the FAA's latest AC-36 Advisory Circular, along with the equations to work out the actual limits. The Falcon 900 easily meets Ch3-10 though.

[747FOCAL]

Just looking at the certified levels is not enough to judge if a particular aircraft has enough margin to be certified to Chapter 4. There is a list of 12 questions the recertifier must be able to answer appropriately for each question. If the Chapter 3 certification was done using methods that are no longer acceptable than another test must be conducted. The difference in the methods used to certify could cause the noise levels to go up enough to flunk Chapter 4.