Everyone agrees that the noise from aircraft has become an unreasonable nuisance to people living around airports. Because of it aviation is now extremely unpopular in some quarters and there is energetic public resistance both to the extension of existing airports and to the creation of new ones. The restriction on night take-off of jet aircraft from London airport is another illustration of the problem. This public attitude is understandable and it is tending to obscure the fact that transport aviation has made a great contribution to improving the quality of life. Taking one small example, without aviation the package tour holiday, which represents good value for money, would hardly be possible.

The purpose of this paper is to take the advantages of aviation for granted and to explain that it is technically feasible to build a subsonic aircraft and engine combination quiet enough not to annoy the public.