§ Mr. Skeffingtonasked the Minister of Aviation if he has considered the evidence supplied to him by the hon. Member for Hayes and Harlington that the Boeing 707 and the Comet IV have perceived noise levels of 121 and 120, which in terms of noisiness are about two-and-half times that of a composite piston-engined aircraft, which is 107; and if he will describe the technical means to be employed for meeting his requirement that Comet aircraft taking off at night shall make no more noise than piston-engined aircraft.
§ Mr. RipponYes; and I wrote to the hon. Member on 4th December last explaining in detail why the contention is not justified. In reply to the second part of the Question, the Comet aircraft taking off at night will be able to reach a much greater height than piston-engined aircraft at the boundaries of built-up areas. It will reduce power considerably before this point and will retract flaps to increase the gradient.