Jet noise a price of efficiency

North Hempstead and Hempstead residents will do the nation's air travelers an important service by tolerating more low-flying planes from Kennedy Airport over their neighborhoods. Their sacrifice should mean fewer flight delays that ripple out from here and cause delays at airports nationwide.

Flight-path changes implemented last week will send about 200 planes a day over Long Island's North Shore. They're part of an extensive redesign of air routes in the New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia metropolitan area, among the nation's busiest, with about 8,000 flights a day. Aviation officials blame delays at JFK, Newark and LaGuardia for two of three delays of 15 minutes or more at airports across the country.

The new "JFK wrap" will route westbound flights out of JFK east initially, and then quickly north over Hempstead and North Hempstead before they turn west over the Long Island Sound and Westchester County. Planes departing from JFK will no longer cross the paths of those taking off from LaGuardia and Newark. It's a more efficient use of airspace and will provide more options in severe weather, when most delays occur.

FAA officials insist noise in Hempstead and North Hempstead will increase only slightly since the jets will pass overhead at 5,000 to 10,000 feet. That promise must be kept if we expect residents of those towns to accept this change that benefits all of the rest of us. hN