Helicopters Can Hush Themselves

by Todd Rome
OP-ED Contributor

Published: July 29, 2007

NY / Region Opinions

Southampton

THE number of helicopters flying low over eastern Long Island has risen steadily in the past few years. And noise complaints are up. As the president of a company that books helicopters to Long Island and a resident of Southampton, I can attest to the increasing chop chop of whirlybirds overhead.

The problem needs to be addressed without delay. But Senator Charles Schumer’s solution, to require that the Federal Aviation Administration study ways to divert helicopter flight paths away from homes, is not a good one. It would be far too complicated and costly. A much easier and less expensive approach would be to work with helicopter operators to voluntarily reduce noise.

Part of the reason helicopters are so difficult to regulate is that they are not all alike and do not all generate the same amount of noise. Age, size and other factors make some louder than others. (The newer models are typically the quietest.) Helicopters also have a broad range of flying abilities. Some can always follow flight patterns that keep them up high or out over the water. But those that lack the kind of navigation equipment needed to maneuver in fog sometimes need to move inland and lower for better visibility.

Helicopters serving a variety of purposes — including traffic reporting, heavy lifting for construction, law enforcement and air ambulance work — fly over eastern Long Island. And though Senator Schumer suggests that emergency and news helicopters should be exempt from flight pattern regulations in times of emergency, he does not anticipate how these helicopters could clog flight corridors, or suggest where other helicopters should go when they do.

Nor does he take into account the many different airports on eastern Long Island. As often happens in busy airspaces, helicopters and other small aircraft are pushed out by airplanes carrying more passengers. When flight patterns are interrupted in this way, helicopter pilots need to move out of the corridor to keep traffic moving.

To regulate helicopter routes would also be bad for the economy, given how fast the helicopter industry is now growing. Helicopter operators from outside the New York region would be discouraged from flying here, and that could put a damper on local business.

Helicopter owners and operators have already demonstrated their willingness to cut back on noise. In the late ’90s, when noise complaints about sightseeing helicopters in New York City skyrocketed, the F.A.A. worked with local operators to develop voluntary strategies like not flying in the early morning or after dark and keeping whenever possible to routes over the Hudson and East Rivers. The result was a significant reduction in the number of noise complaints. Many of the same Manhattan operators also run choppers out to Long Island. One way to begin to resolve the noise problem on eastern Long Island would be to simply expand the scope of the New York City agreements.

Indeed, steps are already being taken to reduce flight noise in residential areas. East Hampton Airport, the most popular landing place, has established noise abatement policies that govern helicopters. It now requires, for example, that helicopters maintain high altitude until they are cleared to land, and that they land by 11 p.m. And several companies are now working to develop technology that will aid aircraft in finding quieter flight routes.

My company, Blue Star Jets, has asked all the helicopter companies that fly our customers to keep above 2,000 feet when over residential areas; to fly over water, railroad tracks and highways whenever possible; and to land before 11 p.m. at East Hampton Airport and before dark at the Southampton helipad. Though in instances of bad weather or heavy air traffic, these policies sometimes cannot be followed, if they are taken as general rules, noise will be diminished.

Senator Schumer and the residents of eastern Long Island should spare taxpayers the expense and trouble of writing federal regulations, and instead work cooperatively with helicopter operators to reduce noise.

Todd Rome is the president and co-founder of Blue Star Jets.