Community Corner

FAA Conducts Test Flights for Proposed South Shore Helicopter Route

Data from a helicopter flight on Tuesday will help determine if a South Shore 'Noise Abatement' Route is feasible for helicopter pilots heading from Manhattan to the East End.

The Federal Aviation Administration conducted two test flights over Long Island’s South Shore on Tuesday to determine whether or not the route over the ocean is possible for helicopters heading from Manhattan to airports in the Hamptons.

The new flight path is meant to help reduce the number of helicopters currently flying over the North Shore over East End residential areas, creating constant noise, especially on the weekends, that has had many in the North Fork community up in arms for several years now.

“This was a planned flight used to collect data that will help determine whether this route is feasible or not,” said FAA spokesperson Jim Peters. “If the route is developed, it will be available for any helicopter heading west to east or east to west along the south shore.”

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Experts at the New York Terminal Radar Approach Control will study the data to decide if and when the South Shore Noise Abatement Route should be created. The proposed eastbound route would take helicopters at about 3,000 feet above sea level along the South Shore, while the westbound route is proposed at 2,000 feet above sea level. Peters said he did not have a time line as to when this route would be approved.

The route on Tuesday included flying over the Ponquogue Bridge in Hampton Bays and over Shinnecock Bay and ended at the helipad on Meadow Lane. East Hampton-bound choppers would fly over Georgica Pond, according to the FAA. 

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Southold-based pilot and flight expert Joe Fischetti said that most pilots still fly visually rather than with instruments, which can be very expensive. But as part of the noise abatement project, the FAA also plans to use GPS technology to help pilots lessen their reliance on lights from residential areas below them.

A long-time supporter of changing helicopter flight paths from the North to the South Shore, Fischetti said he wasn’t too excited about this latest move from the FAA.

“There are two problems with this plan, first that it’s very expensive to invest in these GPS systems — it cost me about $30,000 for my plane,” he said. “And secondly, there is no way a pilot with a single-engine plane is going to fly out eight miles over the ocean.”

Fischetti said that pilots would have to fly that far away from land in order to get around JFK Airport’s airspace.

“If you have any sort of problem, you and your passengers are going into the water,” he said.

Fischetti added that the only pilots that would use the South Shore route would be the bigger twin-engine helicopters, such as charter choppers from Manhattan-based Liberty Helicopter,  less than 20 percent of the current flights over the North Shore.

“I’m not pooh-poohing the plan, I’m just not jumping up and down about it,” he said.


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