Thursday, June 12, 2014

Opinion/Letters: Busy flight paths need rerouting

Thank you for your editorial on the marked increase in airplane noise in our area ["FAA, Port Authority must help rattled residents," June 5].

We all understand that the airports play a vital role in our economy. However, as residents and taxpayers, we too contribute to the vitality of New York City and its suburbs. As someone who lives in northern Queens, I have always accepted a degree of noise from LaGuardia Airport. However, the increasingly liberal usage of the Runway 13 climb is unconscionable. The Federal Aviation Administration adopted this stealthily and despite much opposition from residents and local elected officials in 2012.

All we ask for is rationality and a more equitable distribution of runway usage and flight paths.

Susan Carroll, Flushing

 

In a previous editorial regarding the new NextGen flight route out of LaGuardia Airport, Newsday asked residents of Bayside to take "one for the team" ["Airplane earful for some -- but progress for all," Aug. 29, 2013].

The June 5 editorial seems like a careful rewording of the previous editorial, albeit with a softer, gentler ending: a candid dialogue between Kennedy Airport and its neighbors. However, that's not what the aviation roundtable is for. It's a vehicle for change.

If Newsday is serious about an open dialogue, here are some things that have been missing from your narrative. Most people complaining about the drastic increase in air traffic did not buy homes under flight routes. New routes have been implemented.

Overland routes that had been sparingly used in the past have been upgraded for general use, and some water routes have been abandoned.

These changes have occurred for one reason only: operational efficiency. LaGuardia may still put its arriving planes into the wind, but nearly all departures now use Runway 13 because it allows the airport to clear the runway intersection quickly. With the intersection clear, arriving planes can be spaced more closely, and the capacity of the airport increases.

Brian F. Will, Auburndale


Source:   http://www.newsday.com/opinion/letters