The Area Equivalent Method (AEM) is a screening procedure used to simplify the assessment step in determining the need for further analysis with the Aviation Environmental Design Tool (AEDT) as part of Environmental Assessments and Impact Statements (EA/EIS) and Federal Aviation Regulations (FAR) Part 150 studies. AEM is a mathematical procedure that provides an estimated noise contour area of a specific airport given the types of aircraft and the number of operations for each aircraft. The noise contour area is a measure of the size of the landmass enclosed within a level of noise as produced by a given set of aircraft operations.

The Area Equivalent Method (AEM) is designed for use on Microsoft Windows operating systems under Microsoft Excel. The AEM release consists of two files listed below. The model is currently based on AEDT 2c SP2 and follows a spreadsheet format providing the user with a familiar and user-friendly environment for interfacing with the model.

• AEM Version 2c SP2 (MS Excel)
• AEM Version 2c SP2 Users Guide (PDF)