A couple thoughts… first off I’m an airline pilot that, up until the last couple months, flew the turboprops in and out of Carlsbad. The turboprops are pretty quiet and the newer 70 seat turboprops (dash-8s) are very quiet.
The major noise comes from jets, the loudest being the oldest regardless of size. In fact some of the loudest planes out there are the first generation of small bizjets like the twenty series learjets. The big new bizjets like the Gulfsteam 550 are almost creapy quiet.
Probably the least appreciated point when it comes to airport expansion is that increasing the runway length decreases the noise. It allows us to use lower power settings for takeoff and less reverse thrust on landing.
There are airports like orange county that we have special profiles we have to fly the reduce noise. We do try to fly as quietly as we can in general.
