Reporters Jim Douglas Henry, Jeremy James, Gillian Strickland, Desmond Wilcox, Harold Williamson

This week: Aircraft Noise
Whether we like it or not, the volume of jet aircraft traffic screeching over our heads is going to increase and go on increasing for many years to come.
It is undeniable that aircraft are great money-spinners and dollar earners - London Airport handles more international traffic than any other airport in the world - but for those living near airports jet aircraft noise has reached almost unbearable proportions. Conversation stops; telephone calls are impossible; industry, hospitals, and schools are affected; radio and television sets are drowned out. And as air travel gets cheaper and easier, and airports all over the country expand and runways are extended, thousands more who once lived in peace and quiet find themselves under the flight path of the jet-age giants.
But is the noise absolutely necessary? How serious a hazard to our health is it? Do the airlines respect the noise limits imposed? Can jet engines be gagged without ruining performance? Is sufficient being done to control what has become known as this obscene intrusion into our private lives?