Push a hacked Amazon Dash button if you’re plagued by airplane noise @Airnoise_SAN #CitizenScience #NoisePollution
Via WaPo Lori Aratani, Barbara Deckert has a new weapon in the war against airplane noise — and she’s not afraid to use it.
Every time a plane flies over her suburban Maryland home, rattling her windows and setting her teeth on edge, she presses a small white button and feels a tiny sense of triumph.
That’s because with one click, Deckert has done what could have taken her hours to do a few months ago — she has filed a noise complaint with officials at the Maryland Aviation Administration.
Airnoise is the brainchild of Chris McCann, who repurposed the same plastic Dash Button that Amazon customers use to order toilet paper and detergent.
One click of the red-and-white button and McCann’s software program sends a detailed complaint directly to the agency in charge.
“Airport authorities don’t make it easy to file noise complaints, but we do,” McCann’s site boasts. “With the click of a button, instantly locate loud, bothersome flights, automatically file a complaint and get back to things that matter to you.”
So far, McCann has sent out more than 700 of the clickers. As 0f mid-December, users had filed nearly 1.1 million noise complaints at 29 U.S. airports.
“Oh, the joy, the sheer pleasure of pushing that button and seeing the complaints mount up,” Robyn Winder of Hannover, Md wrote in response to a reporter’s query. “We are over 115,000 complaints for BWI, more than 35,000 in just the past 30 days! So now when MAA wants to know ‘which flight bothered you,’ I have a real answer! ALL OF THEM.”
“It felt so good,” she said. “It’s highly, highly therapeutic. It makes you feel like you can make a difference.”
Users sign up via the Airnoise website. With a free account, users can file up to 15 complaints a month; for $5 a month, they can file unlimited complaints. The button costs $24. McCann, who has a full-time day job, says he charges just enough to cover his costs.
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