Valley Skies

Understanding air traffic over the Pioneer Valley

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Loops and practice lapseach detected loop and lap circuit, marked

Data overlays None Heat map (number of flights) Noise (minutes a day over 55 dBA) Lead in the air Lead released CO₂ released

LoopPractice lapAirport (gray bars are runways)

Each line is a small-plane flight over the Pioneer Valley. Enter your address to see what flies over your home, or click any line.

Check a home

Only flights over the marked homewithin 2 km (1.2 mi) in a straight line, height included

Lowest height over the home

Hide flights just passing throughflying from one airport to a different one, or flying straight (turning less than 45° within 3 km / 2 mi of the home)

–flights

–loops

–gallons of avgas burned over the towns

–grams of lead over the towns

–metric tons of CO₂

–kg of carbon monoxide

Why 2 km around a home: a Cessna 172 or Piper PA-28, the planes most local schools fly, is certified at 72–74 dBA at 1,000 ft (FAA AC 36-1H, Appendix 7; test method in 14 CFR Part 36 Appendix F). Sound fades about 6 dB each time the distance doubles, plus air absorption (ISO 9613-2), so at 2 km in a straight line it is still about 55 dBA: clearly heard outdoors, and about 40 dBA indoors with windows partly open (EPA 1974 Levels document). Quiet rural daytime background is 30–45 dBA (Fitzell 2019; EPA 1974), so these planes stay audible out to roughly 4–5 km. Levels are for full power; planes cruising or in the landing pattern are somewhat quieter.

Sources for the fuel, lead and CO₂ figures: gas car, 22.8 mpg (EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies); electric car, 0.30 kWh per mile, and all electricity on New England power, 540.5 lb CO₂e per MWh (EPA eGRID2022); semi truck, 6.9 mpg diesel (FHWA Highway Statistics 2022, VM-1) at 10.21 kg CO₂ per gallon (EPA Emission Factors Hub); refrigerator, 472.5 kWh a year, average full-size model (ENERGY STAR certified refrigerators); home, New England house with gas heat and air conditioning, 488 ccf gas and 1,136 kWh a year (EIA RECS 2020, Table CE4.7); avgas, 8.31 kg CO₂ per gallon (EPA Emission Factors Hub) and 2.12 g lead per gallon, 95% emitted (EPA-420-B-10-044); lead in car gasoline, 0.1 g per gallon from 1986 (EPA); lead a young child should take in from food, 2.2 µg a day (FDA interim reference level); women who could become pregnant, 8.8 µg a day (same FDA source); lead in outdoor air, 0.15 µg per cubic meter (EPA air quality standard); lead in drinking water, 15 µg per liter action level (40 CFR 141.80); Boeing 747: fuel burn from the ICAO carbon calculator (3.16 kg CO₂ per kg of fuel), carbon monoxide per takeoff and landing from the ICAO engine emissions databank and IPCC, cruise 1.2–5 g per kg of fuel; jet fuel has no lead additive (FAA); 747-400 seats, 416 in the typical three-class layout (Boeing, via Wikipedia), 80% full, near the US airline average (BTS load factor data); gas push mower, carbon monoxide at EPA's limit of 610 g per kWh (40 CFR 1054.105) on a 3.6 kW engine (Honda GCV170) at about half power, about 1.1 kg an hour; car carbon monoxide, 1.0 and 4.2 g per mile, EPA Tier 3 limits (40 CFR 86.1811-17); carbon monoxide (ACRP Report 164).

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Show comparisonsPuts each amount in scale: soccer fields of air at EPA's lead limit, and miles of driving for the same CO₂ Show the street addressOff: the image names only the town, and the link points about 100 m from the home

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