Paul Terry gurgled happily, sounding much like
they were saying:

If you don't like it, don't buy a house under the flight path. It's that
simple.

Since I know of nobody who actually enjoys aircraft noise, are you
suggesting that the 2 million people affected by noise from Heathrow
should be rehoused so that a quarter of London can be depopulated?

Not at all. Those people voluntarily chose to live there since the
aircraft noise was a fact of life.

Why did they do that? Because the aircraft noise made _that_ house, in a
location of _that_ type, cheaper than it would have been if it wasn't for
the aircraft noise.

They bought the house cheaper, or a better house for the same money, than
if the aircraft noise was not there.

Now that they've forgotten about the benefit side of that particular cost/
benefit equation, they want to ignore the cost side, too. Tough. Life
don't work like that. You made your bed, now lie in it.

The number of aircraft movements since then has increased many times,
particularly since the proliferation of freight flights during the
1980s.

~25yrs ago.

For many, the night quota system introduced in the 1990s

~15yrs ago.

was the final straw - the last scheduled flight arrives at Heathrow at
11.30pm and the busy early-morning period starts at 4.55am. Less than
five-and-a-half hours sleep is not enough, especially since the night
quota allows for a number of flights even during that precious period of
calm.

I lived in the NW quadrant of the M4/M25 junction for several years since
that night quota introduction. I've since lived directly under the
flightpath of Luton airport, roughly a mile from the eastern end of the
runway - since that airport's proliferation of cheapies.

I've been there, done that.

Surprisingly, when I moved to each of those, I was well aware that it
wasn't actually a rural idyll. I found you tuned the planes out quickly.

For those who find they can't ignore them, and the resulting period of
sleep insufficient, I'd suggest they consider moving house - just like
those for whom changes 15-25yrs ago were "the final straw" presumably did.

Oh, look. They might have to pay a bit more to get an equal house. Just
like they would've done when they moved in.