Would you buy a house very near an airport?

[Kittypillar]

DH and I have started doing some house hunting and we've found a house that we both really like, except for one issue on my part - it's only 5 minutes down the road (by car) from an airport.

We had a viewing on Friday and aside from the airport issue it's perfect. We're talking "dream house" territory - plenty of room, lovely garden, gorgeous rural/village location but also easy access to city we work in, excellent schools nearby. The village itself isn't in the flight path from the runway (it's south of the airport and the runway goes east to west), and the noise from that one visit seemed fairly minimal when we hung around a bit afterwards.

DH absolutely in love but I'm a little reluctant. I'm not 100% sure why but I suspect it's due to air pollution more than anything else. DH thinks I'm being ridiculous because we lived in a zone 2 very busy area of London a few years ago and I never worried about that then, although I've pointed out we have a 1 year old now and it's slightly different circumstances...

AIBU? Is it a bit silly to pass up on an amazing house due to this? WWYD?

My OH lived near Heathrow til we moved in together at Xmas. Staying at his was awful, somewhere round six or seven in the morning, the planes all started. Not good if we had actually gone out the night before.

It was spelt of exciting but headachy

Have you looked on Flightradar24 to see what planes are over your house and their altitude?

I live near Southend Airport. Actually love being close enough to walk to the airport for holidays and not hugely bothered by the occasional noise

I live on a flight path about 2km away from the end of the runway at a major airport.

It’s turned me into a FR24 geek. I know the different sounds of the A380s vs dreamliners vs 777s, and the smaller planes too.

I too find it comforting when I hear the change of plane size - the smaller short haul planes are most of the evening, and around 9-11pm it’s big planes going east. 11-2am it’s back to smaller airlines taking the cheaper flight slots (often older planes, so much noisier), and then 2-4 it’s back to ‘premium’ airline big planes heading west to land in Europe first thing in the business day.

I absolutely love it (especially when we get something fun happening like Air Force 1 or the Antonov-225 or diversions from airlines who don’t normally land here). I’m also a bit of a tail fin geek and can name most airlines who fly into the Middle East by their tail.

I might not be an impartial person though given that I’m clearly a geek.

Check out night flight rules and spend half a day or so hanging out near the house. I would go for it

Definitely have a good google there will be a XXX Airport local action group. They will have collated data on flight paths, daily flight schedules (including cargo) and any proposals to change paths/add runways.

I used to live near EMA (as PP said 24/7, planes every 5 mins) and my two thoughts were that cargo planes are often bigger/noisier than passenger jets and that the planes at night sound 10x louder than during the day.

As well as getting Flightradar24, look up about future plans for the airport. For the likes of Luton airport they are building another runway/terminal and obviously the flight paths will change. If it’s that, that’s why the vendor is selling

I think it is probably worse if you live further away like us. Every time we hear a plane (usually military) we stop and listen, because it is a comparative rarity.
If you live closer you probably block it out.
Same with traffic. We only hear the main road when the wind is in a certain direction, so it feels really noisy.

I'm sure Heathrow are going through a consultation to change flights paths or add them - that could be a consideration.

Don't base your assessment of the noise on 1 day. Last year I was a weekend event near East Midlands airport. The Friday night was horrid and I had to get up and concentrate the next day. The Saturday night was completely different and you wouldn't have realised your were near an airport.

There are online air quality index measurements so you can compare to where you were in London, different places around the world. Levels vary, so watch for a few days or longer and compare a few of them. Just google AQI [your location]. I think it is the fine particulates that are the biggest concern for DC respiratory issues (but I'm not certain).

I lived under the flight path of Manchester airport for 15 years. It honestly rarely bothered me.
The only time I had trouble sleeping was when they closed the airport due to fog etc. It was too quiet then.

I live less than two miles from Leeds Bradford Airport and aircraft noise just isn't an issue.

Now I'm trying to identify the airport in the OP's description. East to west runway, similar to Southampton or Cardiff. I'd say East Midlands or Bristol.

I wouldn't because it'll be so hard to sell when you eventually sell it.

We are about 30 mile from Birmingham airport but right on a flight path so when the planes are coming into land they're in descent over us already and you can hear the engines gearing up for landing.

I quite like it. Makes me feel connected to the world.

Point is you can't escape it no matter how far away and you'll get used to it. Better than living near the M5 like a friend of mine as that's a constant noise.

Flight paths are harder to change near the airport as the actual runway would need to be rotated.
Might be worth asking if the flight direction ever changes, with wind.
Otherwise I would say if you go and listen again, when there are some planes taking off, then it’s probably fine.
I’d check if there is a night ban on flights too.
You want to make sure it’s ok if it gets busier too. So listen to the planes assuming there may be more.

It’s not LBA is it?

What are the main wind directions - most of the U.K. it is from the south west. So you should be downwind of fumes. I have noticed strong fuel smells sometimes when visiting near airports. I would think air quality will be monitored so look online for stats.

I lived under the Heathrow flight path and we also had a rail line at the end of the garden plus a bus stop outside the front door. The planes were the least of our problems.

I often think when coming in to land and we're going over houses "how awful to have to live there"... obvs I'm aware that some ppl have no real choice or they were there prior to the airport/flight path but absolutely no, I wouldn't,

We've lived next to a couple of major roads and that was bad enough.

Put your postcode into this to see what the general air quality is like.

I wouldn't rule it out but would do my research with regards to all current flight paths, future ones, projected expansion, traffic and air quality.

I used to live right underneath the arrival path for Manchester and it didn't bother me but that was before I became a slightly neurotic parent and I am a bit of a plane spotter.

Lots of regional airports have flights first thing and then not too much during the day. I'd get up early and sit outside/round the corner and see how noisy it is.

I personally wouldn't make a big purchase like a house unless I am 100% sure of my choice.
Also if you are hesitating, future buyers will too. How easy will it be to resell in 20 years time? You also don't know how much the airport will have grown

I used to live about 3 minutes from Gatwick. Didn't bother me in the slightest. If you do buy it, don't turn in to one of those people who start campaigning against the airport the minute you move it

Might be worth asking if the flight direction ever changes, with wind

It does. Irrespective of airport, the wind direction always dictates the runway direction. A higher percentage of flights will arrive from the east and take of towards the west in the UK.