VTOL AND NOISE
SIR,—Yes, vertical take-off aircraft should help to solve the noise problem, That is the short answer to Mr. Pollard's question. The nuisance region asso- ciated with VTOL aircraft is a vertical column of circular section; whereas the nuisance region asso-
dated with fixed-wing aircraft is a swathe or long ribbon extending along the runway and beyond it at each end. The ordinary jet aircraft concentrates its noise and brings the sources of that noise close to people near the outskirts of the aerodrome. The VTOL aircraft spreads its noise, disc fashion, and can keep the sources in the centre of the aerodrome. The duration of the noise, moreover, may be less because the rate of vertical ascent may be made at a rate as high as six metres a second.—Yours faithfully,
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