The most recently available operations and complaint data associated with East Hampton Airport, as presented by a consultant to the East Hampton Town Board, show "not only an ongoing problem, but a growing problem," Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc said on Tuesday.
A comparison of the period from June 27 to Sept. 30, 2019, with the same period in 2018 (the Thursday before July 4 to Sept. 30) reveals an increase of 1,472 overall operations, or 8 percent. Seaplane activity increased by 23 percent, 500 operations more than the same period in 2018. Helicopters, particularly vexing to those living under flight paths because of their noise and the low altitudes at which they often fly, increased by 377 operations, or 7 percent. Airplane activity also increased by 7 percent, or 687 operations. (An operation is defined as a takeoff or a landing.)
The report aligns with a midyear report delivered last August by Jim Brundige, manager of the airport, in which he noted a 7.5-percent increase over 2018.
Tuesday's statistics are part of a larger trend, Adam Scholten, a senior consultant with HMMH, told the board. But for a slight dip in 2018, overall operations increased each year from 2015 to 2019, he said, with the largest increases occurring among helicopters and seaplanes.
That point, and the statistics that prove it, illuminated the "growing problem" that Mr. Van Scoyoc noted. Comparing the summer period of 2019 with that of 2015, helicopter activity was up 56 percent, seaplane activity by 40 percent, and overall activity by 23 percent.
The trend toward increasing traffic, and the time of day in which it is occurring, correlates with the November 2016 lifting of overnight curfews established by the board in 2015. Operations between 6 and 8 a.m., and after 8 p.m., rose in 2017 and beyond, according to one graph in Mr. Scholten's presentation.
Similarly, operations of aircraft deemed "noisy" based on Federal Aviation Administration standards, a category that includes helicopters, increased in the early morning and nighttime periods starting in 2017, and continued through last year. (The restrictions enacted by the town were challenged by a coalition of aviation interests and were enjoined by a federal appellate court, which ruled that the town cannot independently enact airport use restrictions.)
Airplanes (Mr. Scholten called them "land planes") remained the largest category of aircraft operating at the airport last year, with 9,986 operations, or 52 percent of the total. Helicopters were second, at 32 percent, followed by seaplanes at 14 percent. Seaplane traffic rose by 2 percent last year over 2018, while helicopter traffic decreased by less than 1 percent. The percentage of airplanes remained constant.
The larger trend shows a shift away from airplanes to greater use of helicopters and seaplanes. Between 2015 and 2019, helicopters increased by 7 percent as a percentage of the entire fleet using the airport, seaplanes by 2 percent. Airplanes, as a percentage of the mix, decreased by 5 percent in the same period.
Complaints about noise, not surprisingly, were also up last year over 2018. Over all, complaints increased by 11,691, or 33 percent, over 2018, to almost 47,000. Complaints about seaplanes rose by 97 percent year over year, to 4,302, and complaints about helicopters were up by 5,830, or 31 percent. Comparing last year to the same period in 2015, overall complaints have risen by 27,631, or 145 percent. Seaplane complaints increased by 6,656, or 435 percent. Helicopters and airplanes also registered triple-digit increases in complaints over the same period.
Helicopters drew the most complaints in the span measured in 2019, at 24,813, or 53 percent. Airplanes were next at 26 percent, followed by seaplanes at 18 percent. The percentage of complaints about seaplanes increased by 6 percent over the same period in 2018.
Complaints came from 553 households in the period measured in 2019, an average of 84.5 complaints per household.
The Sikorsky S76 helicopter was the aircraft type that led to the most complaints in the period studied last year, with 7,048. That model performed the second-most operations of any aircraft. The Cessna Caravan C208 seaplane, which does not fall in the "noisy" category, drew the second-most complaints, with 5,768. The C208 is the model that performed the most operations, with 2,527.
After the town-enacted restrictions were struck down, the town turned to an analysis called a Part 161 study, which it must complete in order to propose and enact noise or operational restrictions on aircraft. That is a long process, one that has yet to succeed where it has been employed previously.
Members of the town board have previously said that closing the airport is a possibility once "grant assurances," obligations on the part of the town to operate the airport under particular F.A.A. guidelines, expire next year.
Tuesday's presentation followed several calls to the online meeting. One, from the Astoria neighborhood in Queens, asked that the airport be closed. "We are getting slammed with helicopters transitioning . . . to get to East Hampton Airport," he said. "The helicopters fly very low over us."
"We understand air traffic noise, particularly helicopter traffic to and from East Hampton, really does affect so many people well beyond our town borders," Mr. Van Scoyoc said.
Another caller, from Sag Harbor, wanted to "reiterate concerns of your neighbors on the Southampton Town side of the line" who are "plagued by aircraft morning and night. . . . We've come to the conclusion that the only long-term solution is closing the airport."
