Aviation noise from Pearson may force Richmond Hill resident from home
'The roar of the engines is absolutely deafening,' says Bessie Karellas

yorkregion.com
Aug. 8, 2017
By Teresa Latchford

After living in her Richmond Hill home for nearly three decades, Bessie Karellas will be forced to move if things don’t change.

The long-time resident loves nothing more than spending time outdoors in her back yard but as of this spring, that changed, she said.

She began to notice that the airliners coming in for a landing at Pearson International Airport are now flying lower and closer to her neighbourhood than before, she said.

“The roar of the engines is absolutely deafening,” she said. “It is so loud we have to move indoors and close all the windows and doors to muffle some of the sound.”

During the peak hours of air traffic, there are only seconds or minutes between aircraft passing over. The planes continue to fly by until around 11 or 11:30 p.m. on some nights and a few pass over between 5:30 and 7:30 a.m.

“It is very disruptive. We can’t even carry on a conversation in the backyard without being interrupted by air traffic noise,” she said. “I love my home and I love my back yard but if I can’t get anything done about this, I won’t be able to stay here for much longer.”

Karellas isn’t alone.

She and her neighbours have brought their concerns to Richmond Hill MP Majid Jowhari and MPP Reza Moridi in the hope they will pass it along to policy makers.

Karellas also encourages all residents who are experiencing the same disruption to submit complaints at Torontopearson.com. The noise complaint website currently states, “Due to an increase in the volume of complaints, response time from the noise management office will be longer than usual”.

The Toronto Aviation Noise Group, T.A.N.G., has been advocating for fair flight paths for the past four years.

Flight path changes in 2012 by NAV Canada caused the group to form and advocate for residents who are suffering from the intrusive noise, loss of sleep, classroom disruption and a general decrease in quality of life.

It is collecting noise complaints at Torontoaviationnooise.ca.