Posted on

What is being done in your area?

Developing Programs That Minimize Noise Impacts On Surrounding Communities

For more than 40 years, the Port of Oakland has endeavored to develop programs that minimize noise impacts on surrounding communities. Noise abatement procedures (NAP) at Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport (OAK) are based on the voluntary actions that air traffic controllers and pilots may take to help reduce the impacts of aircraft noise on communities adjacent to the airport. The airport has no authority over the movement of aircraft or the direction of flight. The authority to regulate flight patterns of aircraft is vested exclusively in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

The airport applies best practices to ensure disturbances are kept to a minimum, with training operations typically isolated to set periods and locations around the airport. The following are general guidelines and techniques we ask operators to follow to help minimize the noise impact produced by aircraft in your area.

North Field Touch & Go Noise Abatement

Touch & Go Residential Avoidance

At OAK, touch and goes are done using the North Field runways, usually on runways 28L or 28R.

When using runway 28R for touch and goes, the traffic pattern routes aircraft to take off to the north over Bay Farm island towards Alameda, turn right then travel south parallel to the runways over Oakland crossing towards San Landro, where they turn right again to line up and come in for a landing.

When using runway 28L, aircraft will also travel on their take off and landing legs over Bay Farm island and San Leandro, but the parallel leg of the traffic pattern is performed over the midfield portion of OAK.

Since the traffic pattern for runway 28L lies mostly over the airport rather than communities, runway 28L is the preferred runway for touch-and-goes for noise abatement purposes.

Please note that safety always takes precedence over noise abatement procedures and pilots must follow air traffic control instructions and other safety considerations caused by weather, potential air space conflicts, or emergencies.

Want to get more involved?

Learn more
Posted on

What Type of Aircraft Operations Affect You?

Are you affected by overflights? understand what these overflights are and why they are in your area.

The term “overflight” refers to the flight of an aircraft over a particular area. In today’s modern age, overflights can be common in all areas, but they are especially common near airports. The San Francisco Bay Area is home to 3 major airports, including Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport (OAK), as well as many small airports, so overflights are common throughout the region. If you are affected by overflights in your area, it is important to understand what these overflights are and why they are in your area before we can work together to come up with helpful solutions to aircraft noise issues.

What affects your area on a standard weather day?

OAK Aircraft Training Operations at Low Altitudes.

One of the most common training elements is practicing takeoff and landing. To practice, aircraft often complete this procedure several times, flying a circuit or lap around the airport between each landing and take-off to gain experience and familiarity with these procedures. This type of circuit training is often referred to as a ‘touch-and-go’ or ‘pattern work’ because of the nature of not coming to a full stop on a runway so as to more easily do more circuits around the traffic pattern.

Learn more about training flights

Want to see more?

View live flight tracks and noise levels using our WebTrak Flight and Noise tracker.

WebTrak