Officials unhappy with helicopter pilot cooperation
Helicopter noise from above spurs increase in complaints on the ground
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The Sikorsky S76 is a popular commercial helicopter commonly used by charter services to transport passengers from Manhattan to East Hampton Airport.
Despite an agreement brokered during the winter by U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) with the Eastern Region Helicopter Council and local airports aimed at alleviating the helicopter traffic noise problem on the ground in eastern Suffolk, local, state and federal officials report they've been getting an earful from constituents about helicopter noise.
Mr. Schumer issued a press release Tuesday saying the summer was "off to a rocky start" with thousands of complaints reported in June alone, most of them localized on the North Shore. Only half of the helicopter flights into East Hampton airport are complying with the minimum altitude requirements agreed to by the helicopter council, according to the press release. Most of the helicopter traffic over the North Fork is headed to or from the East Hampton Airport, according to officials.
From Memorial Day through the second week of June, approximately 1,500 complaints were filed at East Hampton Airport, with as many as 300 to 400 of those complaints issued from unique addresses, Mr. Schumer said.
In Southold, the bulk of the complaints are concentrated among people living along Mattituck Inlet, Cutchogue, New Suffolk and parts of Peconic and Southold, where helicopters are traversing the North Fork on their way to East Hampton, according to Southold Supervisor Scott Russell.
Mr. Russell said a North Fork helicopters association has altitude-monitoring equipment and has been gathering data for him. Helicopters crossing the North Fork on their way to East Hampton Airport are regularly flying over land at altitudes of 900 to 1,100 feet, Mr. Russell said.
The supervisor believes it's time for FAA regulation of helicopters, and perhaps even legal action by the town. "We have to consider all our options," he said in an interview Tuesday.
Failing voluntary compliance with flight path and minimum altitude guidelines agreed to by the helicopter council, Mr. Schumer pledges to introduce legislation requiring the FAA to impose mandatory routes, altitude floors, and stiff fines for any helicopter that violates the rules.
Unless things improve quickly and markedly, Rep. Tim Bishop (D-Southampton) would support such legislation, he said. Describing himself as "thoroughly discouraged" by the pilots' lack of compliance with the agreement reached with the helicopter council, Mr. Bishop said he sees the need for FAA regulation as almost inevitable at this point. Congress has taken the steps needed to set the wheels in motion for this, he said. The House version of the FAA reauthorization bill charges the FAA with the task of studying helicopter traffic all over Long Island and suggesting strategies for noise mitigation, Mr. Bishop said. "You can't get FAA regulation without first doing this study," he said.
Democratic State Assemblyman Marc Alessi, whose Shoreham home is in a designated helicopter flight path en route to Gabreski Airport in Westhampton, authored a bill that would have required the state transportation department to conduct a helicopter traffic study. It passed the Assembly but lacked a sponsor in the State Senate. Mr. Alessi, who is passionate about the noise generated by low-flying helicopters, said he "shopped" his bill to every senator in the L.I. delegation, but couldn't find a sponsor.
"There really is no state role," said Sen. Ken LaValle (R-Port Jefferson), whose district encompasses both the North and South forks, explaining why he would not sponsor Mr. Alessi's bill in the Senate. "It only leads people to believe that we can do something when we can't."
Mr. Alessi said he's writing to Gov. David Paterson to ask him to require the state DOT study by executive order.
Meanwhile, both Mr. Schumer and Mr. Bishop have scheduled meetings with representatives of the helicopter council in what may be their final effort to improve the noise situation by voluntary compliance. Mr. Schumer's meeting is scheduled for today, July 3, and Mr. Bishop's for July 14.
Residents with low-altitude and noise complaints are urged to report them to the helicopter council Web site, www.flyneighborly.net, or to East Hampton Airport at 631-537-2202.
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1 comments found
Low flying helicopters : 6/26/2009
It's apparent that the helicopter companies cant police themselves as they promised they would. They still continue to make an immediate turn due north once picking up their NYC clients from the Hamptons and fly directly across the peconic bay then right down the north fork at low altitudes. This is unfair to the residents of the north fork and our elected officials should step up proceed with passing legislation to stop this practice.
