Complaint page, factual perspective
Please learn, below, before going to the complaint form. Thanks.
Long Islanders were misled by elected officials during Summer 2008 that complaints will stop helicopter flights, or that the agreement we signed this year makes all aircraft fly over water. Aircraft of all kinds are entitled to safely and legally use the airspace above LI, which is of a kind existing over the vast majority of the U.S. land mass, and is designed by FAA to allow freedom of flight paths, enhancing the benefit of aviation to all users. There are public service, utility, and training flights as well as air transportation flights taking place, as they have for many decades. Long Island has a distinguished place in aviation history, in fact.
"...noise complaints...help identify emerging concerns and facilitate communication between pilots and community members. Aircraft noise complaints received do not directly influence aircraft flight paths and do not result in "warnings" or "violations" against specific pilots or aircraft in most cases." [from a southwestern airport web site]
Here in the NYC area, the information you provide is useful in informing pilots of where especially concerned areas are, but the recommendation to fly over LI Sound is directed at larger, multi-engine helicopters. Our verbal agreement with community leaders in December was that helicopters crossing the shore at 2,500' or above are acceptable, even over populated areas. Smaller, slower, single engine helicopters will continue to traverse the airspace above LI for safety and efficiency reasons (strong winds can exist at 1,000' even when calm at the surface), and are encouraged to fly as high as weather and air traffic control allow, to accomodate the concerns of Long Islanders.
We've observed flights between NYC and mid-Suffolk county, and found compliance with offshore routes and altitudes to be high; at East Hampton, where flights are analyzed in detail, most flights follow the airport's guidance, about 82% in track and 58% in altitude at tiny points in space, since April.
"Airport operators have no legal authority over aircraft in flight. [Some airports have] established noise abatement procedures, however, low flying aircraft complaints should be directed to the FAA. The limits establishing how much noise an aircraft can emit are set by Federal Law [at time of aircraft type certification]. Aircraft that operate [here] comply with existing Federal noise standards."
"Aircraft can legally fly at altitudes that some residents find annoying or believe to be unsafe, however, only the FAA has regulatory authority over aircraft in flight. And, unfortunately the FAA does not have a simple process for lodging low-flying aircraft complaints as they require a written complaint to take formal enforcement action. While some aircraft in flight can be bothersome to some residents, most complaints of low-flying aircraft, are regarding operations that area completely within the Federal Aviation Regulations (FARs) for aircraft altitude." [airport web page]
Finally, we hear a lot about preserving a quiet "quality of life" that some feel they pay for in real estate prices and taxes. Neighborhoods, including use of airspace, do change, and we live in a megalopolis in which we all balance our individual interests in peaceful co-understanding of safe and legal activities. We sympathize with those who feel affected, but ask that you seek balance with the quality of life of the region's first-rate pilots, maintenance technicians, administrative and support personnel, who pursue their life's happiness providing safe and efficient air transportation service to passengers whose quality of life is, in turn, enhanced by air travel. The professional pilots of the NYC region provide the safest and most efficient mode of transportation and have been documented to show their respect for you around the region by following voluntary procedures at airports and enroute.
Our toll-free number is 800-319-7410, but using this form will save us the step of transcribing your call into our database. Calls to NYC's 311 service are handled by one city employee, who has many higher priorities and is not an aviator. In the past, the city referred callers to ERHC and we were able to have many productive and informative contacts with callers, and both sides learned more about each other. Complaints to the city led them to stop referring callers to us. ERHC regrets this change, as we receive less information and the city's understaffing of this office doesn't allow the citizen to learn more.
Yes, ERHC is an "industry group", but we are volunteers who seek to improve our profession and are an award-winning community-helping group. We are the only source for expert information on NYC region helicopter operations. Neither the city nor FAA has the level of knowledge we do, and we are in a position to make recommendations to our members which result in faster and more flexible results than any government entity can provide.
It's ERHC's committment and mission to get you the information you need to make sense of what you are seeing and hearing. We will respond to your feedback via postings to this site, addressing the most common complaints. We regret that we don't have the time to send individual replies at the present time.
Thank you for your understanding.