USAir's DC-9 aircraft will soon roar a little more softly over neighborhoods surrounding Baltimore-Washington International Airport because of the company's decision to muffle its engines.
The airline yesterday announced plans to install "hush kits" on its fleet of DC-9s to meet federal noise reduction standards.
The company will spend $34.2 million on the kits, supplied by JTC ABS Partnership of Wilmington, Ohio, and Pratt & Whitney of East Hartford, Conn., to outfit the first 24 McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30 aircraft.
The engine modifications are expected to reduce the noise from the DC-9's JT8D engines by 50 percent. USAir owns 74 DC-9s in its fleet of 429 planes.