[quote=CDMA ENG]
You’re kidding right? I know people several miles off the flight path in Point Loma who have installed ACs in their house because they use to keep their windows open all summer and could no longer bear the sound of aircraft anymore. I have known 2 couples that moved from Point Loma to somewhere else because of the noise. One couple moved to North Mission Beach and still installed AC in the house because of the aircraft noise. So why would NOT being directly under the flight path make that much difference?[/quote]

Ahhh, looks like it’s time for an Aircraft Fundamentals 101 refresher. You always want to take off into the wind, and in San Diego that means taking off towards the ocean over 90% of the time. At take off the plane needs to produce a lot of power very quickly to gain as much altitude as possible. Altitude=Safety in the world of aviation because the higher you are, the more time and options you have to deal with any issues that may occur. Much of Point Loma is underneath this 90+% takeoff route and the jets will have their engines at high power until they are up a few thousand feet. This is why the aircraft are so loud in PL even when they are pretty high up, they are still climbing.

On landing the pilot has the opposite problem, he needs to reduce speed as much as possible while preserving his options in case of emergency. This means cutting the engine power way down. It is true that the jets directly overhead on the Lindbergh landing path are really, really loud, but if you just go a few blocks in either direction they are much less noticeable.

Of course there is that -10% of the time where the winds change here and takeoff/landing directions are reversed. In those cases, PL gets a break and enjoys the quiet idling engines as they glide in for a landing, and Mission Hills/Hillcrest/Banker’s Hill gets the full-on roar of the big turbines at takeoff.

So being in the flight path can mean different things at different times. Better to be in the landing path than the takeoff path IMO, especially here where the directions rarely reverse. That said, I would NEVER want to live right under the landing path, it is really, really loud.