Blame Wealthy Hamptons Residents

What sounded like a motorcycle at full throttle above their Port Washington cape first caught the attention of Donna Szewczyk and her husband, Tom, last fall.

By the following summer, a steady procession of helicopters buzzed their home from morning until night, rattling their windows, their china and their nerves, Donna Szewczyk told Newsday.

"We feel like we're living next door to a heliport," she said recently.

But the Szewczyks are not alone. From Manhattan to Montauk, residents have echoed the same chorus of frustration in reaction to the rising numbers of helicopters crisscrossing the skies of Long Island communities.

Reacting to the growing concern over noise and safety, local and state politicians are brainstorming with the Federal Aviation Administration and industry officials to come up with a plan to better regulate helicopter use there.

At East Hampton, helicopter flights have doubled in the last decade, and at the Westhampton Beach airport, helicopter use jumped 35 percent from last year, officials said.

"Increasing numbers of our residents are frustrated by the lack of consideration shown by the helicopter industry toward residential communities," said North Hempstead Supervisor Jon Kaiman. "If they are not willing to regulate themselves, the federal government should regulate them and impose penalties."

Critics say helicopter travel is practically unregulated by the FAA, even though that agency alone has jurisdiction over airspace. Helicopter pilots fly on routes that are recommended by the FAA for safety, efficiency and noise abatement, but in the end, those routes are voluntary, officials said.

Only when directly within an airport's airspace are helicopter pilots asked to conform to a flight path, according to the story.

Helicopters flying across the island to the Hamptons are using three main routes; the South Shore, mid-island and the North Shore, which is the most-direct route and the mostly heavily flown.

This is particularly true of Suffolk communities such as Smithtown, Port Jefferson, Rocky Point and Greenlawn. Nassau communities including Floral Park, New Hyde Park, Manhasset and Glen Cove are hit the hardest, according to New York Senator Charles Schumer.

Officials in Southold, long bothered by the noise, have proposed a law that would bar helicopters from coming within 3,000 feet of the ground. "Helicopters have become an insidious problem throughout the entire town," said Southold Supervisor Scott Russell.

Wealth is apparently a key factor behind the increase in helicopter use, say government officials, residents and helicopter company owners. Some said the weak dollar has increased tourism on Long Island. Others say Wall Street executives, looking for ways around the choked highways to the Hamptons, find that helicopters save them time and money.

This summer, one luxury-travel firm advertised round-trip helicopter service from the 34th Street heliport in Manhattan to East Hampton Airport at $1,600. Rates for the service from New York City to the Hamptons range from several hundred dollars to even pricier summer packages in the tens of thousands.

"Noise from low-flying helicopters has been left unabated for far too long," Schumer said, noting this past summer was one of the worst ever. "Now is the time to act."

FMI: www.co.suffolk.ny.us/webtemp1.cfm?dept=43&ID=1078