camas - the good and the bad?

[PNW-type-gal]

The "box haulers" (UPS, Fedex, etc) often use the cross-wind runway, which goes right over Cascade Park and the western edge of Camas. That used to be how I knew what the weather was before I even woke up - the 4am UPS flight on the cross-wind runway.

Use Google maps to look at the airport and follow the path of the runway back.

[texasdiver]

Camas is north of the airport. The runways all go east-west so basically planes will never fly over Camas when on runway approach. They come in along the south side of the Columbia River. Camas is also too close to the airport to get planes circling as it is too close to the airport and well inside the turning circle of most planes. So basically there is no reason to ever get low flying jet planes directly over Camas unless they are seriously off course. From Prune Hill you can see them landing along the Columbia but they are never over head.

[Farmer15]

cdelena, can you please be more specific about where in the north western part of Vancouver? Thanks!

[cdelena]

Originally Posted by Farmer15

cdelena, can you please be more specific about where in the north western part of Vancouver? Thanks!

The area with the flight noise I was referring to (downwind leg maybe 40% of the time) is west of I5 and north of the greenbelt (so about the 130th St line), with most impact west (toward Felida) as plane altitude drops.

[PNW-type-gal]

The cross wind runway flight pattern (from the north) is to swing out to the east end of the "valley," headed out toward Silver Star, then circle in to runway alignment. The noise part comes in as the planes drop over the Columbia Ridge down to the airport. It has also been used when they are doing work on the main runways, but only certain planes are small enough to use it.

But it IS only the crosswind runway, used most during the winter or higher wind times, and it is usually just the cargo jets using it. Part of it is that the atmospheric conditions are conducive to noise transmissions then, particularly when the planes drop below the cloud ceiling. From Cascade Park, every now and then you could actually hear Troutdale.

The thing I really missed is that you used to know it was spring by the biplanes taking off from Evergreen Airport, back before it closed. The radial engines make a very distinctive noise.

[StealthRabbit]

Originally Posted by Farmer15

cdelena, can you please be more specific about where in the north western part of Vancouver? Thanks!

yes... we had a lot more aircraft noise when living near 78th st and I-5 (Hazel Dell) / turning point for inbound flights. Than when living in Camas, or Washougal (higher flights / upwind of noise)

I can lay in bed on Friday and Sunday nights and watch up to 6 inbound PDX flights (at any given time) coming westbound near Mt Hood, but I don't hear them. I do get a tad background noise from the Tugs and Trains during summers when the windows are open.

[Farmer15]

Thank you, cdelena, PNW, and Stealth... it's helpful!