Aircraft Noise Monitoring

Technical progress is progress, so by definition it has positive effects. However, there are often secondary or collateral effects that can have a negative impact on society. With civil aviation, the possibilities offered for intercontinental passenger transport have revolutionized our civilizations, and in particular the economy; air travel is to passenger transport what information technology is to the circulation of information. At the same time, the environmental impact of air traffic cannot be disputed. It is now well documented, and its negative consequences are even assessed in monetary terms (the "polluter pays" policy aims to internalize these costs, which are currently externalities). On a global scale, we know the emissions from aircraft engines and therefore the contribution of air transport to global warming. On a local scale, the impact of aircraft noise on the lives of people living near airports has necessitated the introduction of measures aimed at controlling it, i.e. first quantifying it, then guaranteeing its levelling off or even reduction. Controlling the impact of aircraft noise requires monitoring. To monitor, to prevent, is to keep an eye on it, to spy on it, and to prove it, you need to keep a record of the monitoring. All monitoring is counter-role, recording, because only the memory of monitoring can bear witness to the evolution of situations and possible feedback.

To monitor is to watch over. In the Orwellian vision of Big Brother is watching you, surveillance presupposes a threat. In the case of aircraft noise, the threat to people living near airports is not just the noise nuisance they experience. In the background, there are other factors, such as the fear of loss of property value, or even the fear of an accident. For the majority of people living near airports today, overflights are a more frequently expressed factor in overall annoyance than noise itself. This is why monitoring systems integrate aircraft trajectories, or "integrated monitoring systems". So, monitoring noise also means monitoring the sky, and thus entering the realm of airspace management, an area of mixed civil and military use, and therefore necessarily of a sovereign nature.