Study: Jet traffic boosts noise complaints

More jet traffic was one factor driving a 20 percent increase in noise complaints over last year at Republic Airport, according to an airport report released last week.

The 292 complaints in 2010 were up from 243 in 2009 but were fewer than in any other year since 1999, the airport's annual reports said.

Contributing to last year's increase, said airport director Michael Geiger: a woman who called in 70 complaints over a three-month period, and now-completed construction that diverted takeoffs and landings away from the airport's north-south runway. That runway routes planes away from homes nearest to the airport.

Jet traffic at the East Farmingdale airport, which dropped sharply during the recession, increased by 11 percent in 2010 and accounted for half of the noise complaints.

Babylon Supervisor Steve Bellone said in a statement, "We are very concerned about the findings of the report, especially in light of the fact that there is still no master plan for the airport and more development is planned."

Alissa Sue Taff, a longtime critic of airport noise and president of the Sweet Hollow civic association in Huntington, said the noise complaint system was not an accurate gauge of public discontent because many residents have simply given up calling the hotline. "They say they'll speak to the pilot but nothing gets done," she said.

Airport officials say they have taken steps to address residents' concerns -- discouraging evening takeoffs and landings and changing some flight paths -- but Taff and others worry the noise could worsen.

A proposal to add more hangars could bring more traffic, she said, and the Federal Aviation Administration is investigating an airspace increase for some area airports. Geiger countered that jet traffic is more closely tied to the economy and demand. In 2009, there were 100,846 takeoffs and landings at the airport. In 2010, there were 108,328.