Tuesday, November 04, 2014

Seacoast Helicopters: Portsmouth residents sound off over chopper noise

PORTSMOUTH – Portsmouth and Durham residents shared their frustrations about living with helicopter noise, and with the owner of Seacoast Helicopters’ unwillingness to address the issues.

Portsmouth resident Eleanor Bradshaw told members of the Noise Compatibility Committee and Pease Development Authority leaders Thursday night that “we’re all getting frustrated.”

 "It feels like whatever we’re saying here the comments don’t have anywhere to go,” Bradshaw said during a meeting attended by more than 30 people.

She noted that although the noise from the helicopters is “pretty bad,” “the frequency is really the worst thing.”

Living downtown, she has accepted that dealing with noise is part of the deal, but the helicopters fly so often over the city, there doesn’t seem to be any downtime.

“Now on beautiful days, they’re gone, those moments of peace,” Bradshaw said during a meeting in the PDA’s headquarters. “If you’re kayaking on the inland waterways, you have a little helicopter flying over you.’

Portsmouth resident Robert Nute, along with other people at Thursday night’s meeting, complained that the helicopters are flying right over the Portsmouth Middle School and Little Harbor School.

 “To me it’s a safety issue,” Nute said. “I have a buddy who’s a helicopter pilot, and when it comes down, it comes straight down, it doesn’t matter how good a pilot you are.”

 Nute said after the meeting he’d like to see Seacoast Helicopters owner Bruce Cultrera use some “common sense” when it comes to running his business.

“Fly around the school, don’t fly right over downtown,” Nute suggested.

Durham resident Lee Seidel, who’s also a member of the Noise Compatibility Committee, said the touring red helicopters are also creating a noise problem in Durham.

“Helicopters are increasingly becoming a problem for people in Durham also,” he said.

Seidel suggested PDA officials can do more than they’ve said they can to control the operations at Seacoast Helicopters.

“The idea we have no ability to control helicopters, I think is very self-serving on the part of the PDA board,” Seidel said.

The only reason Seacoast Helicopters is operating out of the Pease International Tradeport, Seidel said, is “because you folks rented them space.”

But Pease Development Authority legal counsel Lynn Marie Hinchee took issue with Seidel’s comment, saying Seacoast Helicopters is “not our tenant.”


The business, which gives tours of downtown Portsmouth and other areas in the Seacoast, and also operates a helicopter school, is a tenant of Port City Air, the “fixed base operator” at the Portsmouth International Airport at Pease, Hinchee said.

"We have absolutely no right to impose a lease restriction on anything which we could not otherwise regulate,” she added.

The Federal Aviation Administration regulates air travel, but they have so far refused to hold a public meeting with Portsmouth city officials.

The state’s Congressional delegation sent a letter to the FAA recently asking them to reconsider, which they did, Hinchee said. But so far they've only offered to meet with Portsmouth officials at their regional headquarters in Burlington, Mass.

“This is becoming a national issue,” she said about helicopter noise complaints.

Cultrera has repeatedly told the Portsmouth Herald that he is already flying his tours at 1,000 feet or more, higher than he is required to by the FAA.

He considers himself a good neighbor whose business promotes the city of Portsmouth, along with all its downtown attractions.

But he has refused so far to change how he operates his business.

Asked Thursday afternoon if he planned to attend the noise meeting, Cultrera said, “No I don’t want to defocus the intent of the meeting. I’m afraid if I show up, the meeting will take on a different complexion.”

FAA regulations state that helicopters, if their operation is “conducted without hazard to persons or property on the surface,” may operate below even the 500 feet requirement for planes flying over non-congested areas, according to a copy of the regulation provided to the Portsmouth Herald.

Cultrera has previously refused to meet with Portsmouth city officials, and Hinchee said Thursday “at this time they (Seacoast Helicopters) have not accepted an invitation” to meet about imposing voluntary noise regulations.

The number of noise complaints has jumped dramatically during the last five months when Seacoast Helicopters began operating, according to PDA statistics.

PDA officials received 226 noise complaints during the last five months, 169 of which were related to helicopter noise. Most but not all of the complaints involved Seacoast Helicopter operations, they said.

“Typically there might be 10 a month,” Airport Director Bill Hopper said about noise complaints before Seacoast Helicopters started operating.

He added that the PDA has had months where they haven’t received any calls.

- Source: http://www.seacoastonline.com

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