Letters to the Editor: Airport 09.08.16

Death From Above

Noyac

September 5, 2016

Dear Editor,

We learned from last week’s Star letters column that East Hampton Airport is so out of control that even our own pilots are afraid of it.

It’s not enough that North and South Fork residents are subject to ear-splitting, earth-shaking noise. Now, according to one local pilot, we are also subject to death from above at any moment, and at the mercy of a “motorcycle gang in the sky.”

Lord help us.

Yours truly,

GENE POLITO

Carpetbaggers

Wainscott

September 2, 2016

Dear David,

Cyril’s in the sky is back in full force at the East Hampton Airport. Local pilots, by their own admission, can’t get in and out safely for all the thoughtless, dangerous, money-grubbing out-of-town commuter business carpetbaggers descending in helicopters and seaplanes. One local pilot has referred to them as a “motorcycle gang” in the sky.

So now, in addition to earth-shattering noise, house vibration, emissions being spewed on our waters, preserves, and private homes from Montauk to Manhattan, we can add the worry that none of the above will really matter when (not if) one of these cowboys causes an accident ending in tragedy for innocent people below.

I guess those poor folks on the North Fork shouldn’t have bought near an airport.

Meanwhile, our elected town officials, who ran on a platform promising to clean up this mess, are telling us that “complaints are down” and the situation is improving.

A crash landing at the airport goes unreported, lightning takes out the (un)control tower, and Charles Schumer cuts a deal to extend the northern helicopter route for four more years without so much as a public hearing on the matter.

Awesome.

Had the town board listened to an advisory group that spent 18 months devising proper, enforceable restrictions, we would not be where we are this Labor Day weekend. It would be quiet and orderly in the skies. Instead, Supervisor Cantwell bullied other board members into retaining an aviation attorney who has proven, complete indifference to the noise (and safety) affected, as well as a ridiculously poor track record. He can, however, run up those billable hours!

The mess at HTO cannot remain as is. It can only go one of two directions. It can get even worse, until there is no option other than to tear up the runways and shut it down. Or, it can be walked back to the small, safe, happy HTO that was intended years ago. My hope at this time is for the latter.

What is needed is true leadership, leaders with some guts. Back in the 1990s we had a supervisor who stood up to the D.E.C. and actually defied an order to close the landfill until we had a proper solution. We took the relatively small fines and were better off for it. That same supervisor was also led away from Indian Wells Beach in handcuffs, in defiance of a state law killing haulseining and ending a way of life few today remember. 

Ironically, Larry Cantwell was there that day too, and showed similar courage and conviction. Back then, it was clear who our town officials represented. Today, I’m not so sure.

TOM MacNIVEN

‘Airport Tipping Point’

East Hampton

September 2, 2016

Dear David,

Your “Airport Tipping Point” editorial was spot-on and could not have been more timely. It is no surprise that two new groups (East Hampton Airport Noise Citizens Advisory Committee and Say No to KHTO) have formed in the last few weeks, because there still are no effective solutions to the intolerable noise impacts. It is not just the residents of East Hampton and the nearby communities who are suffering as a result of increased commuter air traffic into and out of KHTO. Thousands of citizens, from N.Y.C. to Orient and Montauk, have lost their quality of life, not to mention adverse effects on health and the environment. And, as a private pilot recently wrote in your paper, safety is a critical issue, now more than ever.

Just last week, the Santa Monica City Council adopted a resolution calling for the closure of its airport as soon as legally permitted, with the goal of closure on or before July 1, 2018. And, the council directed the city manager to implement a series of measures intended to reduce the adverse environmental impacts of the airport until operations permanently cease. 

Other than waiting for a court decision, what is the town board planning to do about bringing relief to East Hampton residents and Long Islanders? It is not acceptable that a war veteran on the North Fork experienced a post-traumatic stress episode because of low-flying helicopters headed to KHTO, or a 2-month-old baby in south Setauket is awakened daily, at all hours, by low-flying helicopters over the house, or youngsters cannot focus on their studies because of large private jets skimming rooftops and trees. How much harm must be experienced before government takes responsibility?

The East Hampton Airport is out of control. Effective solutions are needed now, not years from now. To this end, it is curious that there is at present no town board-appointed airport noise abatement task force, bringing together stakeholders. There are citizens of our community who have a wealth of knowledge, decades of experience, and the legal expertise to develop solutions and inform policymakers and the public. The town faces a variety of challenges as it tries to develop smartly and preserve the character and genuine assets of the community. These challenges require tapping human capital, not just financial capital.

As you wrote, “For East Hampton Airport to endure, town officials, pilots, and aviation interests alike must recognize that they must take concerns about noise much more seriously.” It is time to work together for effective noise mitigation or face the alternative — the closure of the airport.

SHERYL GOLD

During Business Hours

East Hampton

September 4, 2016

Dear David,

With respect to the airport, why is it that the East Hampton Town Board is ignoring its own comprehensive plan?

In 2000 the East Hampton Town Board hired Long Island’s pre-eminent planner, Dr. Lee Koppelman, as the principal author of an updated Town of East Hampton Comprehensive Plan. Assisting him as chief planning advisers were Lisa Liquori, Setha Low, and myself. After two years of intense planning work and consultation with all community citizen groups, the 561-page plan and supporting maps were issued — a plan intended to guide the evolution of the community to the year 2020.

I would like to report for your readers and to remind the East Hampton Town Board of a few of the most relevant conclusions with respect to the airport, which at the time was devoted to local recreational flying. 

• “It is strongly recommended that the current mission of the airport should be maintained.”

• “Scheduled commercial operations should be prohibited.”

• “The nearby county Gabreski Airport and the Calverton facility are more suitable for commercial freight operations and general aviation.”

• “The noise problem should also be properly analyzed and dealt with.”

Since the comprehensive plan was issued, operations at the airport have intensified dramatically. Noise from for-hire commercial helicopter and seaplane commuter services has become a massive disturbance to thousands of residents in and around East Hampton.

The growing intolerance of the public toward the airport noise, and disappointment with the town board, after 14 years of the town’s enacting only the most minimum window-dressing restrictions to conform to the town’s own comprehensive plan, should be no surprise.

Thinking about the civic injustice that the current airport has created, I am reminded of Winston Churchill’s stirring remarks about the bravery of Britain and especially the British Air Force in resisting the onslaught of German forces early in World War II. He famously said: “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.” In the case of the East Hampton Airport noise assault against the peace and quiet of so many citizens’ lives, I take the liberty to rephrase Churchill’s remarks: “Never in the field of town management have so few been permitted to exploit and disturb so many.”

At the very least, I urge the town board to expand the airport curfew, a legal right that as owners of the airfield the town board is entitled to do. The airport is big business, its services financed by investors from all over the country. Why not insist that this business operate during business hours, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.? Doing so would help quell some of the most egregious noise impacts on so many people, allowing enjoyment of their property, allowing sleep, allowing an interval to appreciate the ambience of this beautiful town and this wonderful region.

PETER M. WOLF

Increased Danger

East Hampton

September 2, 2016

Dear David,

I remember not too many years ago when the busiest day at the East Hampton Airport was open house day, when local pilots showed off their small aircraft and even gave rides to our kids. And I remember how much residents at Georgica Estates hated that day because of the increased noise.

Now we learn through your letters section that even local pilots think twice before mixing it up with the hordes of helicopters, seaplanes, and jets constantly taking off and landing at all hours here.

How long will it be before East Hampton Airport follows East Hampton Main Street as a place no locals can find any benefit? If not now, that day is fast approaching.

Increased air traffic means increased danger, not just to pilots and their passengers but to innocent people below.

East Hampton Town Board: Stop the insanity!

SUSAN McGRAW KEBER

Noise Pollution Fees

East Hampton

September 2, 2016

Dear David,

For some weeks, I have been writing about the ways in which the consistently wrongheaded, and often unfounded, advice of Peter Kirsch, the town’s aviation counsel, has severely undermined the effort to control airport noise.

I had intended this week to write about the town board’s responsibility for this, notably the increasingly obvious inability of the town board to deal with complex subjects such as the airport. That failure extends to the board’s inability properly to supervise outside consultants such as Kirsch.

But that subject can wait until another day. Rather, today I want to comment on your editorial of last week about the new group, Say No to KHTO, that is advocating closing the airport altogether. The formation of this group and your editorial got me thinking about just why it is that I have never supported closing the airport and still don’t.

The reason I have not wanted to see the airport close, despite the fact that it has become a wretched nuisance, is twofold. First, I am absolutely certain that a solution exists that would allow us to get rid of most of the noxious noise while maintaining a financially viable airport that continues to serve primarily local and recreational pilots. That solution was handed to the town board on a platter by the town board-appointed airport planning committee’s noise subcommittee that I chaired for 15 months, supported by 13 detailed findings and a draft 14th.

We can get rid of the worst of the noise, while sustaining the airport financially for local and recreational pilots, with noise pollution or congestion fees, that could be used to reach any targeted reduction in noisy air traffic (almost all of it commercial, commuter operations) while generating ample resources to maintain a safe, modern airport. It is a very sorry state of affairs that, because of Kirsch and his fumbling advice, this town board ineptly failed to do the obvious.

The second reason is that I believe that winner-take-all politics are profoundly detrimental to the community and to our country as a whole. I know perfectly well that the airport is of no value, economically or otherwise, to the vast majority of our residents who don’t use it. Indeed, as Say No to KHTO claims, if the airport were closed, we could likely achieve over time a 20 percent cut in town taxes by redeveloping the property for environmentally sensitive commercial uses.

But the airport is important to those in our community who do use it. It has a long tradition in our town. I respect that. I believe that where we can give a little in order to accommodate the divergent interests of different members of our community, we are all better off for it. Live and let live.

Unfortunately, the local aviation community has not been willing to reciprocate and consider the interests of the rest of us. It continues to this day to demand that the town take new money from the F.A.A. That would render local control of the airport impossible. Rather than casting its lot with its neighbors in the community, local aviation resists all efforts to control commercial commuter air traffic, instead allying itself with the helicopter and seaplane operators from New Jersey, Connecticut, and New York City who exploit our town for their own financial gain.

And so I ask, by insisting that the town once again subordinate itself to the F.A.A., so that there can be no airport access restrictions at all, even restrictions with no effect on local aviation, is it not the local pilots and aircraft owners who are engaged in winner-take-all politics in disregard of their neighbors?

Those adversely affected by airport noise have had their hand out for a very long time, offering to find and advocate for solutions that have little or no effect on local and recreational pilots. A solution is there for the taking — noise pollution fees directed specifically to a dramatic reduction in noisy, polluting, commercial traffic. 

If local pilots and the noise-affected went to the town board jointly supporting such a solution, I believe the problem would be solved overnight.  Come to think of it, forget solved. Due to Kirsch’s fumbling and the fecklessness of the town board, we haven’t even attempted the obvious solution, although there is no cost and no downside to doing so. The very least we owe everyone on the entire East End is to try the obvious before we conclude that the noise problem cannot be solved except by closing the airport.

If, as you pointed out in your editorial, we do not solve this problem, it seems inevitable to me that the numbers calling for the airport to be closed will only grow. It is simply irrational to believe that people will forever allow their homes to be stolen from them just so a handful can shorten their commute and an even smaller number can enjoy their aviation hobby.

If the pressure to close the airport eventually becomes irresistible, the local aviation community will have only itself to blame.  A viable compromise exists. The outstretched hand is there. Time to take it.

DAVID GRUBER

There Is Hope

East Hampton

September 2, 2016

To the Editor:

Yesterday’s Star printed two letters from local pilots concerning the East Hampton Airport. One reports on the accident waiting to happen because of unsafe behavior of irresponsible aircraft during the frequent periods of aircraft congestion at the airport. The other condemns airport noise opponents, asserting a sort of conspiracy on the part of all noise-abatement seekers to close the airport. 

In response to the letters, I would initially call attention to your lead editorial in the same edition. There, you have pointed out that the airport is at a tipping point. Clearly, congestion, safety, and the noise plague go hand in hand bringing us to that tipping point.

Your editorial closed by calling for greater flexibility and cooperation among all concerned with airport problems. Having been involved with the noise abatement effort for many years, I could not agree more heartily with your message. Moreover, I can say that, contrary to headlines and conspiracy theories, there is hope for such flexibility and cooperation.

First, on flexibility. The Star recently reported that some Quiet Skies Coalition members have broken away to form a separate group to work for the closing of the airport. As vice chairman of Q.S.C., I can tell you with certainty that those members broke away precisely because Q.S.C. does not seek the airport’s closure. I and Q.S.C. respect those former members, and sympathize with them for the aircraft noise agonies that led them to bolt. Nevertheless, Q.S.C. will continue to work for a quieter and safer local airport serving the local small aviators. That means fighting the interstate helicopter, seaplane, and jet corporate interests that cause the unsafe congestion and the airport noise-pollution plague. It does not mean closing the airport.

This brings me to the cooperation. Several of us from the noise abatement community have been working, we believe effectively, for over a year on the town board’s airport management advisory committee along with representatives of the local aviation community. Our joint aim is to help the town board assure the continued operation of the airport on a safe, efficient, and businesslike basis. We noise opponents on committee believe that if the airport is so managed it can also operate so as to eliminate the current noise pollution plague. And I believe that our aviation community colleagues on the committee share that belief. 

It is to be hoped that the town board will recognize both the level of cooperation illustrated by the airport management advisory committee and the desperation illustrated by the new close-the-airport group. If so, it then will listen to the Quiet Skies Coalition and others calling for further aviation noise-limitation planning, and reinvigorate its recently moribund efforts. Then this community can confidently get beyond the airport tipping point and be assured that the airport remains in operation, but this time as a local friend of its neighbors on the East End.

Sincerely,

CHARLES A. EHREN JR.

Worse Than Ever

East Hampton

September 2, 2016

Dear David, 

In this week’s Star, I found two items that I read with great interest, gratification, and surprise. The first was your thoughtful, evenhanded editorial on the roots of the new Say No to KHTO group and the thought-provoking position their founders posit. So interesting and gratifying to have the entire overview of the airport’s rocky political history condensed so articulately. The second — the surprise — was a letter from a local pilot echoing the very sentiments felt by most of us disturbed by seaplanes flying dangerously low over our homes and the reckless behavior of some who pilot those aircraft. 

Your assessment of the failure of many town boards, sadly including this one, to deliver meaningful aircraft noise abatement to the thousands suffering on the East End and all over Long Island is correct. Early indications were that the noise-affected had friends in the Cantwell administration, particularly the freshman Councilwoman Burke-Gonzalez, who at first worked hard to solve the problem. But the recommendations of the town’s own specially convened aircraft noise subcommittee were ineffectively adopted, providing only the tiniest bit of relief by way of two curfews, one for all aircraft and one for aircraft deemed “noisy.”

The definition of “noisy” recommended by the town’s noise subcommittee was basically gutted, providing a big loophole for seaplanes and small helicopters. The original definition provided by the noise subcommittee anticipated this loophole and warned the town board of the potential outcome should it be changed. Voila — we are now experiencing increased seaplane traffic!

The letter published in The Star this week from a local pilot, John Kearney, ties in with his testimony that seaplane pilots are flying irresponsibly, even reporting an incident in which he was involved to the Federal Aviation Adminisgtration. I salute Mr. Kearney, as he demonstrates the integrity of the local aviation community by calling out unsafe practices by seaplane operators and following up with the regulatory agency.  

Mr. Kearney raises important questions with his concerns, which the noise-affected have also identified. How long are the local pilots, those we support as the rightful users of the airport, going to tolerate the actions of the commercial interests, especially when it endangers their safe use of the airport? Will the Ubers-of-the-skies, like Blade and commercial seaplane operators, eventually push the local pilots out?

Is that the future we want for this airport? If not, we’d better move quickly to reroute this trend, because big investors are seeing opportunity in the absence of effective airport policy by the town board.

Meanwhile, the town board has made a choice to follow the advice of its aviation attorney, which is yielding exactly the results the noise subcommittee predicted. One wonders why this approach, when the town has its own, local, qualified specialists in the field of aircraft noise abatement and relevant law. The noise subcommittee predicted this very outcome, and yet the only palliative the town seems able to offer is to remind the noise-affected that the issue is in litigation and we must all wait for the court to render its decision. And, we have a lot to lose.

In fact, the noise is worse than ever and the challenged rule itself is now outdated as commercial interests beef up their fleets to override the once-a-week rule by having plenty of aircraft to cycle in and out on a weekly basis. 

The town’s lackluster noise abatement approach, challenged in court, with poor preparation, gives the appearance of acting on noise abatement, but with little real substance. Or is that the point? Make an expensive, poor showing on behalf of the public to be able to say, well, we tried, didn’t we? 

When in truth, that policy was predictably doomed to failure from the start.

KATHLEEN CUNNINGHAM

Quiet Skies Coalition

Do the Right Thing

Noyac

September 2, 2016

Dear Editor,

The ongoing attempt by out-of-state aviation special interests to take control of KHTO, East Hampton Airport, continues at an accelerated pace. Readers may recall the efforts by the same special interests to influence the last East Hampton Town Board election; many of us will not soon forget their unprecedented $250,000 contributions to the campaigns of pro-aviation candidates. That attempt to buy local control failed miserably, as voters made known that local control means control by the Town of East Hampton, not by out-of-state commuter air taxi operators. 

Not a year has passed since that town board election, and the big money continues to pour into companies like Blade, a name barely recognized even two years ago. Over the past 12 months, the company has increased operations from three Hamptons destinations to more than 20 others in five states; it has also increased its operator relationships from one to 12, and increased its access to a fleet of more than 60 aircraft, including helicopters, planes, seaplanes, and heavy jets used for seasonal jet service. 

Even if the rule proposed earlier by the town were blessed by the courts, and went into effect, thereby limiting each helicopter to one round trip per week, Blade now has access to a sufficient number of helicopters to permit uninterrupted service to KHTO. In other words, the special interests defeated at the polls have circumvented the town’s proposed method of limiting the airport’s noisy, polluting operations, and their profits are soaring.

The town board has a decision to make, and time is of the essence. They can decide either to protect residentsong term or allow our airport and our skies to be overtaken by those same commuter aviation industry folks who tried to influence the election. At stake is the quality of life for residents the length of Long Island who are now impacted by this commuter aviation scourge from KHTO operations, and the very qualities that made the East End the very special place we cherish. The town must do the right thing. Close the airport now.

PATRICIA CURRIE

The Horror Show

Wainscott

September 2, 2016

Dear David,

Your editorial last week “Airport Tipping Point” is exactly what I have been thinking about in the last couple of weeks as my friend and co-founder of Quiet Skies Coalition, Barry Raebeck, broke off and became chair and spokesman for the Say No to KHTO group.

I’m not there yet, but it won’t take much for me to reach my tipping point. For Barry to reach his tipping point is no surprise to anyone, since he was very honest about his position since we started Quiet Skies. He created clever phrases like “Fix It or Nix It.” 

The horror show at the airport wasn’t fixed, so Gerard Boleis needs to simmer down. Gerard’s letter was so blatantly dishonest I couldn’t believe I hired someone that dishonest to install the instruments in my plane. It just goes to show, one doesn’t have to be honest to be a great technician.

The letter that caught my eye, though, was from John Kearney, titled “Motorcycle Gang.” A very experienced commercial pilot, he spoke about the unsafe conditions at the airport, disregard for safety procedures, and the chaos that caused a “near midair” collision with his plane, as he described it. This took me back to the first writing I did in 2009, when I came out publicly against helicopters, seeking to ban them. It was an East Hampton helicopter traffic report titled “Anarchy in the Skies: Out of Control Airport” submitted to the East Hampton Town Board at the public hearing for the airport master plan. In the introduction I wrote this: 

“This report is not only about noise of helicopters, it is also about safety of people in the helicopters and safety of people on the ground. I reported to the airport manager numerous safety issues regarding helicopters taking off at the airport when the airport was completely covered in fog, helicopters on converging paths, helicopters and airplanes on converging paths, and helicopters flying treetop level sneaking in under a low cloud level or just flying treetop level for no reason, except in total disregard for their safety and the safety of people on the ground. I believe it is not a matter ‘if’ an accident will occur, it is a matter ‘when’ it will occur. There are helicopter pilots flying into East Hampton Airport who are cowboys. I don’t use the word lightly; it is a derogatory word describing pilots who are taking unnecessary risks that possibly could endanger life and property. These conclusions are based on my observations and my experience as a pilot.” 

In a letter to the editor in The East Hampton Press on Sept. 16, 2009, I wrote this: “The F.A.A. is unwilling to enforce regulations in East Hampton airspace. The airport manager and the town are powerless to enforce aircraft regulations in East Hampton airspace. Helicopters are not required to follow minimum altitude regulations that fixed-wing aircraft must. There is anarchy and chaos in the airspace over East Hampton. Imagine no police force or D.M.V. laws on the roads in East Hampton.”

“I made 34 calls regarding unsafe operations of helicopters. It is indisputable that flying treetop-level is unsafe. The town board has the power to shut down the airport due to unsafe conditions. The safety of aircraft and airspace is in the jurisdiction of the F.A.A. The airport should be closed until the F.A.A. takes on the responsibility to keep the airspace above East Hampton safe.”

In a letter to the editor of this newspaper on June 1, 2010, titled “Chaotic and Unsafe,” I wrote this: “. . . the only complaint I have concerning East Hampton Airport operations is the commercial operations of helicopters and seaplanes ferrying passengers to and from East Hampton. Commercial operations of aircraft are recently escalating events that will continue to get worse over time and must be addressed now.”

“The airport takeoff and landing patterns are designed to keep order and safety in aircraft traffic around the airport. Helicopters approach the airport in all directions, flying treetop level, flying under the pattern altitude, thereby creating a chaotic and unsafe environment for those in the air and on the ground. This past Monday, Memorial Day, I captured on video a close call between a helicopter and airplane that I will be posting on my website. Based on my observations, an accident is inevitable, and if this administration does nothing, the blood will be on their hands. The time to act is now.”

Being a pilot like John, my focus was based first on safety, to the extent I was reluctantly calling for the closure of the airport only to prevent a catastrophic event that any responsible, safety-minded pilot could reasonably predict. Seven years later, nothing has changed. There have been many close calls. God help us if our luck runs out. 

These letters and much more remain on the website ehhelicopternoise.com. 

FRANK DALENE