Bill to curb helicopter noise stalls

Legislation to quiet the skies over Long Island's North Shore is stalled in Congress due to a dispute over rural airport subsidies and airline worker unionization.

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) attached an amendment to the Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill last February to regulate helicopter noise nationwide and set rules and routes for flights over Long Island. But the bill "has been hung up on unrelated labor issues," he said in a statement. "Once those get resolved we will push the House very hard to support our Senate provision on helicopters."

Although it occurs year-round, summer is the worst time for noise, residents say. Warmer weather brings more commuters and tourists using helicopters to and from their homes on the North Shore and East End.

The Eastern Regional Helicopter Council, a pilots organization, opposes the bill, saying specific routes could worsen noise and that pilot flexibility to choose routes would better disperse traffic. In 2007, council members agreed to voluntary route guidelines over the North Shore.

While rules for controlling helicopter noise are stalled, other changes to air traffic have increased noise over the North Shore, some say. The FAA in October changed some departure routes for Kennedy Airport and one for LaGuardia Airport that pushed as many as 200 airplanes over the North Shore.

"Before, they had helicopters and now they have helicopters and large jets," said Leonard Schaier, a Port Washington resident who in July formed Citizens for Quiet Skies over North Hempstead.

Using an airplane flight tracking program, Schaier said he has documented planes flying over areas such as East Hills at lower altitudes than on old routes, creating more jet noise. The new airplane routes could require helicopters to fly lower in the more-crowded air space, further increasing noise, he said.

The revised airplane departure routes call for higher altitudes over the North Shore, and any low-flying planes could be unrelated to the departure route changes, FAA spokesman Jim Peters said. The FAA is tracking flight altitude data on the new routes, but wants to have 12 months of it before drawing any conclusions, Peters said.

Residents of Hempstead Town along the South Shore have battled airplane noise for decades, particularly from low-flying planes landing at Kennedy on the 22L runway approach. Thirteen communities have worked with the FAA and Port Authority to reduce noise.

The Town of North Hempstead has no such group for airplane noise, spokesman Collin Nash said. But it does track complaints about helicopter noise. Between December 2010 and November 2011, the town's 311 hotline received 361 complaints about helicopters, Nash said. Between 2008 and 2010, the town hotline received 7,426 total complaints about helicopters for the three-year period.

North Hempstead Supervisor Jon Kaiman said the town is in touch with its elected officials about the FAA reauthorization bill and its effect on helicopter noise.

The Senate passed it last February and, in April, the House approved a short-term extension to fund the agency through Jan. 31. A final version is being negotiated, said Justin Harclerode, communications director for Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.), who chairs the House committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. "There are a few issues that are not yet resolved," he said.

Among them are ways airplane unions are organized and how ticket prices at rural airports are subsidized.

Rep. Tim Bishop (D-Southampton) also is monitoring the legislation's progress and "will continue to work with him [Schumer] to include his language in the FAA reauthorization as it proceeds through the conference process," his press secretary, Oliver Longwell, said in a statement.