Noise Complaints Nosedive

A preliminary report to the town board on East Hampton Airport operations says that noise complaints from Jan. 1 through August were down by 53 percent from the same period last year.

Complaints specifically about helicopters decreased by a similar percentage (56 percent) from 2015. There were 12,456 complaints lodged between January and August 2016, about half the amount (26,243) that were received during that time last year.

East Hampton Town Councilwoman Kathee Burke-Gonzalez, the town board’s liaison to the airport, presented the figures to the board on Tuesday. The report, issued this week, also summarizes results from 2014.

Overall traffic at the airport increased slightly this year, though the mix of aircraft following the onset of curfew restrictions changed slightly. Flights in and out by helicopters, many of which are included in a “noisy aircraft” designation that requires adherence to an extended curfew between 8 p.m. and 9 a.m., totaled 27 percent of overall traffic versus 33 percent in 2014, while the use of turboprop planes — including seaplanes that fall outside the “noisy aircraft” category and have become a growing source of noise complaints — increased to 23 percent of air traffic, up from a 20-percent share in 2015 and 16 percent in 2014.

Consultants will finish compiling this year’s results and will present a report to the board analyzing the information and trends at a future date.