Airplane Route?
My wife and I just moved to Mansfield on Tuesday from Delaware and we were really shocked by the sheer number of low-flying jumbo jets during the daytime. It was like one after another every few minutes. We didn't see this any of the times we visited the house or drove by before we bought it. Is this normal?
I found a bunch of flight maps from when they redrew the routes a few years ago and it looks like everything going over from Newark is outbound only so they'd be really high up and going west, and the only thing inbound looks like it'd be going to Teterboro.
Thanks for any info!
John B 
skippy 
Greg No clue...but their is a private airport in Mansfield - but this is for smaller private one planes.
UptoYou
ianimal The country has had some unusual weather patterns this year and especially this week, that may have caused airlines to cancel flights and change routes temporarily. Add that to the President's trips to his golf course in NJ, and the no fly zone resulting, it makes for interesting sky watching at times.
Spring Fever 
Was there something different about the weather?
There's only so much air space and a LOT of planes in the sky (this picture is a live view of the northeast). If they need to shift landing/departure directions on the runways there may be a period of time when planes are flying over areas that aren't usually so busy.
Mark Mc. If you are on top of Schooley's mountain heading towards Hackettstown in the evening sometimes you can see them lining up for Newark when they land coming in from the midwest and west. They head south-east to around Hillsborough, then east and then turn north to land. It's not all the time, just when they land from the South.
PenwellRd The Newark inbound flight route from the mid-west (i.e. Chicago) and west is directly over this area and planes are approx 3500 ft altitude when crossing east over H'town, many times I could see my house in Independence quite easily.Over Parsippany they turn north towards New York State border then east then south over Bergen county descending directly into Newark. Sometimes weather may shift the route somewhat but not very much. Jumbo's rarely use this route - maybe an the odd 777 from the left coast now and then.
I thought there was a couple of routes over us, too diverse to be just shifts, but they do shift for sure, too. Most are still pretty quiet, but a few......oh fix those engines...
Fun things to do.
- if you are on a direct line as they cross the gap (or h-town ridge), they look like a single big light, unmoving, hovering, since they are coming right towards you. If you have guests, just look up, point, say "what's that.....," and start your UFO rant. Until they turn away, they just look like they are hovering.
- If all of a sudden, the traffic really starts to pick up, good chance a thunder bumper is coming. As long as they are flying, you are safe, but might be time to get ready.
- If, all of a sudden, they disappear. Take shelter, the rain is almost here.
Have fun.
strangerdanger We live off Blau Rd. Its normal. In the summer we watch them all day long line up to start their descend to Newark. There is also a small airport off Mansfield and some of the planes are clearly pilots learning because they will take off, do a loop, land, and repeat several times in one night.
Not sure where you live in Mansfield but its pretty dark around here due to not having street lights and lots of land so you notice plane lights a lot more.
Nosila 
Stymie 
tmb123 I lived in a more rural section of Mansfield for 30 years. It went from zero planes, to where I could usually look up and see 8. High though, so no noise, except maybe low flying cloudy days.
maja2 It's not an anomaly at all. Some days a little east some days a little west but in general this area is in the flight path.
CraftBeerBob We've been here 30 years also. Back in the day there was hardly any commercial air traffic. Now, occasionally, you'll see a biz jet which will be a little lower and faster zipping over to Morristown. But mostly it is airliners heading to Newark. You can listen to the airliners on 127.6 on your scanner and the biz jets will be calling Morristown tower on 118.1 - but unless you have a roof antenna you'll probably only hear the planes' side of the radio conversations.
As far as Hackettstown airport, I have landed there a bunch. It's only about 2000' long so you'll probably never see anything bigger than a single or maybe a light twin in there. Kind of like Andover airport but without the lakes at each end of the runway.
Reggie Voter The "Broadway" VOR, officially BWZ, is located on Schooleys Mountain on Pleasant Grove Road just west of Schooleys Montaon Road (on north side of road in a field, looks like an upside down bell).
A VOR is a type of short-range radio navigation system for aircraft, enabling aircraft with a receiving unit to determine their position and stay on course by receiving radio signals transmitted by a network of fixed ground radio beacons. BWZ is used on one of the Newark arrival routes.
OnTheEdge According to this animation there is a lot of traffic over the northern half of NJ:
https://youtu.be/TIZHn3ECHpM
iJay It looks like the NYC metro flight paths were redesigned back in 2010 which increased air traffic over our area per this article from 2010:
https://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/11/faa_plans_redesign_of_nj_ny_ai.html
Lenny Rock https://www.flightradar24.com/
enter KABE in the search box (for Allentown LeHigh Valley International Airport) zoom into Hackettstown and see all planes flying overhead. Click on a plane and it will show you the origin-destination type of aircraft etc.
lildrummerboy 
Acl76 There may be bigger planes flying over head, heading to Newark or Lehigh, but they are not low flying. The only low flying are the small planes into Hackettstown airport on Allen Rd, which is really Mansfield.
Botheredbyuu2 
Old Gent "If you are on top of Schooley's mountain heading towards Hackettstown in the evening sometimes you can see them lining up for Newark when they land coming in from the midwest and west."
Absolutely. Landing lights are turned on when they descend below 10,000 feet. They are usually much lower than that- they look like a row of bright stars as you come down the mountain near Newburgh Road on the left. You can see this in the evening over the field that is there.
Dodgebaal Thanks for all the responses. We have been using that FlightRadar site (the app more than the site) since I posted this topic. We love the smaller planes and the 12000-14000ft jets are not disruptive. However the commercial jets going directly over our house at 6500-7000 ft are extremely disturbing and we wouldn’t have bought the house if we’d realized this was normal, every 4-12 minutes. They start at 4:30AM and don’t stop until 11PM, and while some report 6500ft they appear as though they’re much lower and louder. We love the house and the area but at this point we’re planning to sell as soon possible. It’s extemely disheartening.
John is it just the noise that is bothersome? This area is close to Newark, JFK, Laguardia, Allentown that all fly large planes. I am not sure where your going to go in the vicinity. Also Morristown and Teterboro with the larger private plane as well.
Flight heights are measured above sea level so you have to subtract your location height.
Some of the jets on arrival are quiet, others not so much.
John, go to Newark near Campino's restaurant where there are homes all around. I swear the landing gear practically scrapes the roofs. Have a nice dinner there and put your problem into perspective...
We lived on the western side of Mansfield, close to Washington and at night, you could see the flight pattern in the sky. It was not that noisy. I have stayed in Belleville NJ and the planes there are noisy!!!! Sorry you are not enjoying your time in Mansfield.
Mansfield mama Are you posting in the correct town? NJ has a few Mansfields I think. The one I live in (next to Hackettstown) - I have to admit I've literally never heard a jumbo jet fly overhead and I work from home all day with the windows open. Where do you live that you are constantly harassed by them?
earlybird27 All, this is my house's location: https://imgur.com/a/9Mz6uL3
Also, this forum is about the Hackettstown area.
I'm sure it's worse next to Newark airport, but that's why we don't live there. We chose this area and this house specifically because of how peaceful it is. We are loving our time living here, but not enjoying our time being inside our own home. We also won't be able to enjoy our backyard (bonfires, etc) because you can't hear each other every 4-12 minutes.
If the flights were 1000ft north or south, it'd be far better. We are just perfectly situated to receive a concentrated high decibel blast extremely frequently. As to where we will go, like I said, we think we could move a mile away and expect to be fine. We've watched the routes constantly and it's just this western inbound route that appears to get so low. (and thank you OnTheEdge for pointing out that their altitude is relative to sea level).
Also, most of the planes seem to split off depending on which airport and which runway they're going to hit, right after they pass our house. So we are getting 3x the air traffic we'd get if we lived further east.
I agree that numerous jets cross over us, as you can see them line up at night, but it's almost always been that way.
The statement, "We also won't be able to enjoy our backyard (bonfires, etc) because you can't hear each other every 4-12 minutes." is bizarre to me, though. I've lived here most of my life and been at bonfires, picnics, sporting events, etc, and have absolutely never noticed the jet noise, let alone being drowned out by it to not hear others speaking.
Rich When we walk around the neighborhood it isn't even as loud as it is in our backyard. This isn't like some weird attack on you or the area. I'm describing what we're experiencing. It's crazy how loud it is right along this specific route. Our elevation combined with how low the jets are just make it very loud. I can barely tell there are planes passing over when I'm down at Home Depot or wherever because the background noise drowns them out. But in my backyard I have to raise my voice for my wife to be able to hear me, for the 15-20 seconds while the plane is passing, 5 to 15 times per hour.
John B, Sorry if I sounded defensive - it was not my intention. I wasn't able to see your photo of your location before, as imgur is restricted at work, but I just checked it out now and I can say I've never been to a picnic, bonfire, etc, up by Hazen Rd, so that must be the difference.
NBD we're really bummed out. Still going to make the yard look great and do some projects, hope that we adjust (it's really jarring right now). We're also hoping we can find something that works for us that's isn't too far away because so far we're really enjoying the area.
John could the local terrain just reflect or redirect the sound to your house? As in, it’s bouncing off of a large building or hillside angled toward you? Sound travels in certain ways, especially in certain weather conditions, as well.
3wbdwnj Totally could! That's a good point. I don't know much about acoustics. Good thought about the weather, too. We'll see if things change up.
Actually was at a higher part of Mansfield township yesterday and did notice the planes overhead. Yes, some sound but unless you are trying to sleep in a hammock outside not a showstopper...
That route has been there for ages. I remember being a kid in the 80's, and it went right over our house on Valley Road. We'd watch as every 3 minutes a plane flew over our swimming pool. My brother and l would try to figure out what type of planes they were. DC-8's were always super easy to tell.
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