The Town-Village Aircraft Safety and Noise Abatement Committee has arrived at what executive director Kendall Lampkin characterized as a “critical crossroad” in its mission during its regular monthly meeting Monday night.
A large contingent of Federal Aviation Administration officials joined with representatives from the Aviation Development Council and the Port Authority of New York/New Jersey at the Lawrence High School Auditorium to address Nassau County residents’ concerns over the noise generated from aircraft landing and departing from JFK airport.
Lampkin, who noted the presence of an “unprecedented” number of aviation officials, deemed the meeting a success, despite considerable frustration expressed by the residents in attendance
“I think the contingent of officials from the FAA and the Port Authority that came out this evening were exemplary,” Lampkin said. “It represents the clout that the town-village committee has garnered and our commitment to hold to task the FAA and Port Authority to both communicate better and to answer the questions our concerned citizens have.”
But Ray Gaudio, East Williston’s town-village committee representative, said FAA and Port Authority officials still failed to address the problem of excessive noise from the frequency of flights landing on two runways – 22L and 22R – at JFK Airport. He dismissed changes they touted in departures and transatlantic air routes as largely meaningless.
“It’s basically peanuts in a big zoo,” said Gaudio.
FAA public affairs officer Jim Peters made the first presentation by updating his administration’s New York Air Redesign Project.
“The intent of the study was to reduce delay time going in and out of the airports, both ground delays and getting the planes in and out as efficiently and as safely as possible,” Peters said.
The multi-phase project was implemented for the first time at JFK last Thursday, with changes revolving around departure procedures and a modified high-altitude air route for trans Atlantic traffic.
“We’ll probably run (the changes for) a year and collect data before we actually know what kind of benefit we’re getting from it,” Peters said. “That’s the usual course for FAA.”
Although the study has found that no new noise is being generated by the changed flight patterns around JFK, Peters said the FAA would continue to monitor the issue of aircraft noise in Long Island communities.
It was a sentiment that was reflected in a presentation made by representatives from New York’s Terminal Radar Approach Control.
Following a near three-hour long meeting with members of the town-village committee board on Oct. 4, radar approach control officials began to evaluate the impact of noise generated from the altitude used mainly by cargo planes on overnight flights.
Within 15 flying miles of JFK, New York radar approach control operations manager Mike Porcello said that aircraft should be staying at or above 3,000 feet.
“As members of the community it would be in everybody’s best interest if we keep these aircraft a little bit higher,” he said.
Gaudio called radar approach control’s commitment to maintaining airliner altitudes as “totally inadequate.”
Radar approach control will continue to monitor the altitude of flights during the overnight and daytime hours.
“We think that will address some of the concerns that have come up from the group and some others as well in terms of experiencing aircraft below 2,000 feet as far out as 10 miles from the airport,” Porcello said. “Our commitment is to monitor that as it goes on.”
“Hopefully, that does provide you people some relief,” he added. “We understand at that time of day when there’s no ambient noise that can certainly be a disruption. Going forward, if another option presents itself we’ll certainly explore it, but that’s what we put on the table tonight.”
For many residents and officials, continued study of aircraft noise did not present an acceptable solution to their problems.
“No, I don’t see anything really,” Woodmere resident Sharona Weinberg said of the solutions presented at the meeting. “No change. It’s still a lot of B.S. answers.”
Weinberg’s solution to dealing with the issue was, “to lessen the volume of flights.”
Anyone experiencing noise from aircraft is encouraged to report the incident by telephone at 718-553-3365 or by e-mail at 9-aea-noise@faa-gov.
“We’re as concerned as everyone else about noise impacts,” Peters said. “We want it to go away. We’ll be monitoring that as the project goes forward. If something does happen then we can mitigate it. That’s the plan as of right now.” Reach reporter Richard Tedesco by e-mail at rtedesco@theislandnow.com or by phone at 516.307.1045 x204
