About 250 people rallied Sunday against noise from jets landing and taking off at Kennedy and LaGuardia airports, complaining that their quality of life also has been affected by the smell of airplane fuel.
Elected officials, including Rep. Steve Israel (D-Huntington), called for reduced noise levels deemed acceptable and additional noise abatement programs by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and the Federal Aviation Administration.
"Living on Long Island, it's like living in Baghdad during the war," Rep. Steve Israel said at the rally in Cunningham Park, near Fresh Meadows, Queens. Israel has said he would withhold billions in FAA funding if agency officials don't stick to a promise to limit the number of nighttime flights over some Nassau County communities.
He and 25 other congressmen from across the country sent a letter Friday urging the FAA to lower its acceptable noise pollution level to 55 decibels from the 65-decibel day-night average sound level.
"Rather than addressing this issue piecemeal in fragmented areas of the nation, we believe it is time for the FAA to tackle this issue on a national level."
The old noise standard, which has been in place since the 1970s, "is no longer a reliable measure of the true impact of aircraft noise."
Residents described not only the noise, but the odor of aircraft fuel over their houses.
"The airplane noise is booming every few minutes," said Marilyn Carroll, of Flushing.
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