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QUEENS WEEKLY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2019
Suozzi to FAA: Let’s fi nd
permanent fi x to air noise
Planes on the runway at LaGuardia Airport Photo: Nuno Lopez via Flickr Creative Commons
BY JENNA BAGCAL
A Queens congressman
wants the Federal
Aviation Administration
to implement previously
agreed upon solutions to
alleviate aircraft noise
coming into and out of a
local airport.
Since April, Queens
and Long Island residents
have experienced
increased airplane
noise due to the redirection
of flight paths
and the reconstruction
of one of JFK Airport’s
four runways.
According to Congressman
Tom Suozzi,
the work is scheduled to
last until Nov. 15, 2019.
“It has been more than
90 days since the FAA
postponed implementation
of already agreedupon
procedures and, despite
multiple attempts, I
have not gotten a straight
answer on when they
will be administered,”
Suozzi said. “It is finally
time for the broken bureaucracy
of the FAA
take concrete action that
will actually improve
the lives of my constituents
who are being bombarded
and crushed by
airplane noise.”
On May 30, Suozzi
and representatives
from Nassau and Western
Suffolk Counties met
with the FAA to discuss
the increase in aircraft
noise. Two weeks later
on June 13, the FAA
signed an agreement to
reduce noise, which they
planned to implement
from June 24 through
April 15, 2020.
The terms of the agreement
are as follows:
When aircraft are
operating west of Deer
Park, Suffolk County, air
traffic controllers will
instruct pilots to maintain
an altitude at or
above 4,000 feet as long
as it is practicable.
When the parallel
runway is not being used
for landing (22R), aircraft
will be advised to
maintain an altitude of
3,000 feet on their final
approach until they are
within 15 miles of JFK.
The air traffic control
tower at John F.
Kennedy International
Airport will rotate usage
of operational runways
when the weather
and workload permit.
Items one through
three were scheduled to
officially go into effect on
June 24, 2019, and were to
be part of Standard Operating
Procedures (SOP)
during all hours.
According to Suozzi’s
office, the FAA reversed
its decision on June 18,
stating that the new
regulations “require additional
internal evaluation”
and that “the FAA
will coordinate with
stakeholders before it
makes any decision to
implement them.”
Suozzi, who is a vice
co-chair of the bipartisan
Quiet Skies Caucus,
sent out a detailed letter
to the FAA asking for
clarification on when
they would implement
these regulations. But
the congressman’s office
said the organization has
been noncommittal.
The congressman has
also asked Federal Aviation
Administrator Steve
Dickson to provide an
update on outstanding
project related to aircraft
noise, including a
“now long-overdue and
continuously delayed”
FAA study reevaluating
the threshold for noise
mitigation activities.
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