Smith: Copters need flexibility over LI

Jeffery Smith is chairman of the Eastern Region Helicopter Council.

In recent years, helicopter noise has grown from a moderate source of annoyance to an intolerable aggravation for some residents on the North Shore. What changed? The creation and implementation of the North Shore route. This route requires that helicopters flying from New York City to Long Island travel only in a narrow path over water along the North Shore. As a result, all of the helicopters are funneled into a small area and create a significantly worse noise situation for the residents below.

As the area's leading helicopter advocacy group, the Eastern Region Helicopter Council takes this issue very seriously. For years we have worked with several communities and elected officials to find solutions and compromises to address these complaints. It's clear that the North Shore route is a mistake -- one we have tried to correct for the past four years. Unfortunately, at Sen. Charles Schumer's request, the Federal Aviation Administration plans to make this problem permanent before Memorial Day. This is bad for Long Island and worse for North Shore residents.

Helicopters are not new to Long Island; in the past 60 years, they have facilitated human organ transfers and helped save countless lives through their use by our police, fire and emergency medical services. They are also a vital part of our local and regional economies, providing hundreds of jobs and generating millions in much-needed tax revenue for New York's economy.

Until four years ago, helicopters were allowed to fly a variety of routes across Long Island. Most followed routes along major highways, such as the Long Island Expressway, as a considerate nod to local communities. In 2007, Schumer and the FAA asked us to follow this new North Shore route, which they believed would help limit noise over Long Island's residential communities, a goal we share. We agreed.

The problem is that rather than help alleviate the noise, the route has significantly exacerbated the situation for North Shore residents by bringing a more intense concentration of helicopters over certain parts of Long Island.

Since the establishment of the North Shore route, residents -- especially those living on Long Island's North Fork and in the Town of North Hempstead, have complained about increased flight activity and noise. Schumer inaccurately attributes the increased noise to the helicopter industry's failure to comply with the voluntary noise abatement guidelines of the North Shore route. This is inaccurate.

Our group is extremely aware of noise complaints and has taken several steps to ensure that helicopters follow the established routes and regulations. We use a state-of-the-art noise-complaint management system to detail the sources and locations of complaints. This allows us to quickly identify noise-sensitive areas, so that we are able to work within the industry to develop and implement solutions.

But our ability to implement one of the most effective noise-mitigation tactics -- flight path alteration -- was dramatically limited by the rule changes that went into effect in 2008. At this time, our flights were restricted to a very narrow corridor, and we lost the power to adjust our flight paths to address these concerns.

We support returning to a more diversified route structure -- similar to what was used before 2008. This would help to balance air traffic over the North Shore, central Long Island and some of the South Shore. This is a fair solution that allows for the continuation of these important flights, without pushing the brunt of the noise on only a few communities.

We believe that noise is our responsibility to address. By working together, we can find effective solutions that will resolve the issue for everyone. FAA regulation is not the solution to the noise problem.