Noise Pollution and Other Environmental and Health Impacts of Aviation

The operation of aircraft and of various other aviation-related vehicles and equipment produces several environmental and health impacts, ranging from gaseous and particulate emissions to noise. This chapter presents a comprehensive review of these environmental effects, with the exclusion of climate impacts such as greenhouse gases and contrails that were already covered in detail separately. It focuses on exhaust pollutants and noise as well as some of their well-known health impacts, both physical and psychological. The review highlights the limitations of current mainstream modelling, assessment, and control/management approaches in relation to Urban Air Mobility vehicles and other emerging concepts, especially in terms of noise impacts. The three main sources of aircraft noise are propulsive, aerodynamic, and other mechanical, thermochemical, and fluid dynamic processes. The chapter delves into addressing the gap of a lack of noise emission standards for unmanned aircraft.