'No noise at night!'

In front of these furious homeowners, ADM admitted that measures taken to limit the noise from night flights in and out of Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport had not been as productive as hoped. ADM president James Cherry said the "option of a left turn at 520 feet to fly over Highway 13 instead of over homes in Cartierville worked well in the simulator, but less well in practice," which is why ADM is exploring the possibility of establishing a southern corridor over Lachine.

In a few weeks, the committee that manages the sound climate will revisit the Highway 13 corridor idea, and if the criteria established at the outset of the plan are not fulfilled, the idea will be dropped, Cherry said, adding certain pilots were guilty of not banking close enough to Highway 13 and flying less than 2,500 feet from residential areas.

That was a sentiment echoed by the group's Saraguay-Cartierville regional co-ordinator Jean-Francois Girard.

"Instead of stealing our nights, why don't you go back to Mirabel?" he hollered at the assembly.

To get itself heard, CQL circulated a petition, already signed by 2,500 people, asking that no planes leave, or arrive at the airport between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m., and that these flights be redirected from Mirabel. The coalition is also asking Transport Canada to get involved and regulate the matter.

About 20 night flights go through Montreal-Trudeau. In 2007, 226 citizens brought 1,252 complaints about noise to ADM's consultative committee, a 250-per-cent increase from 2005. Fully 80 per cent of those complaints came were related to noise from night flights between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m.

"This situation has some serious consequences on people's quality of life. They are less productive at work and their children wake up in the middle of the night. One time being woken up is one time too many!" said Marion.

ADM implemented its new flight paths in October 2006, and since that time, numerous Saraguay residents have complained about the airplane noise in the middle of the night.

(Translated by Marc Lalonde)