Wading River residents question delay in flight rules

Tall shade trees and chirping crickets are constant companions at Jack and Helga Guthy's Wading River home.

Unfortunately, so are the buzz of a seaplane's engine, and the thud of a helicopter rotor.

"When the helicopter flies over our home, you can feel the vibrations in your bones," Helga Guthy, 69, said Friday.

As the summer comes to an end, residents in the North Shore community say they've endured another season of incessant helicopters and small planes flying over their homes, aircraft noise shattering tranquillity.

This week, Sen. Charles Schumer asked the Federal Aviation Administration's top official, Randy Babbitt, to impose, as soon as possible, mandatory flight rules for helicopters and small planes flying along the North Shore of Long Island. The rules would send air traffic taking passengers from New York City to the East End over water and away from low-altitude flights above heavily populated areas.

Besides asking the FAA for quick action, Schumer requested the permanent flight rules consider concerns of North Shore and East End residents, who have made formal complaints about low-flying aircraft using the skies over their homes as a shortcut to East End airports and destinations.

On Aug. 6, the FAA announced its proposed rules for the North Shore helicopter route had generated more than 1,000 public comments and the agency needed time to review them before implementing a permanent rule. Currently, the proposed route along the North Shore is voluntary for helicopter and small plane pilots.

"I ask that the agency work quickly through these comments so Long Islanders may soon have a reprieve," Schumer wrote in his Aug. 24 letter.

Jim Peters, a spokesman for the FAA in New York, said, "We're working as quickly as possible to review all the comments."

Helga Guthy wondered Friday why there was a delay at all, with hardly a spell of 20 minutes passing without an aircraft filling the sky with sound.

"It's not like they have no place to go," she said. "A mile or two over the water would make such a difference to the people living here."

Stefan Friedman, a spokesman for the Eastern Region Helicopter Council, which represents helicopter operators, said the proposed permanent rule needs to be reconsidered.

"If this rule were to become law, pilots would be mandated to fly specific routes, leaving them no ability to adjust and adapt if noise levels are disproportionately affecting specific areas and neighborhoods," Friedman said.