TESTIMONY
David Fitzgerald, Marine Park Resident, on the Noise Impact of Low-Altitude Helicopters and Lack of Response from Authorities
3:19:31
·
168 sec
David Fitzgerald expresses concerns about the noise pollution caused by helicopters flying at low altitudes over his house in Marine Park, Brooklyn.
- Despite being an aviation enthusiast who enjoys helicopters, Fitzgerald finds the noise from low-flying helicopters increasingly bothersome.
- He tracks transponder data showing helicopters regularly flying between 120-350 feet over his home while traveling between Manhattan and JFK Airport.
- Fitzgerald criticizes the lack of response from entities like 311, elected officials, the FAA, and mobility service providers in addressing the helicopter noise issue.
- He raises concerns about a potential increase in helicopter traffic if IFRS (Instrument Flight Rules) flights in limited visibility conditions are allowed.
David Fitzgerald
3:19:31
Hello.
3:19:31
My name is David Fitzgerald.
3:19:34
And I represent the Fitzgerald family in Marine Park, Brooklyn.
3:19:42
First of all, I'd like to say, I actually love helicopters personally.
3:19:46
I really, really do.
3:19:46
I am an aviation enthusiast.
3:19:48
I build and fly model planes.
3:19:49
I fly drones.
3:19:51
I've flown private aircraft.
3:19:52
I absolutely love them, but I also love the noise that they make.
3:19:56
Right?
3:19:56
And the helicopter is one of the noisiest flying machines ever invented.
3:20:00
Not very efficient and and very noisy.
3:20:03
So I'm just gonna tell you how the the machines that I actually love to watch from a distance as long as it's not too noisy.
3:20:10
Effect me.
3:20:10
Noise has never bothered me that much before, but I'm more than sixty years old and noises seem to bother me a little bit more lately.
3:20:17
I don't know why, but especially those helicopter noises.
3:20:20
So my my my real complaints and and and what driving the noise complaints for me and where I live is the altitude.
3:20:27
Alright.
3:20:27
Helicopters are flying over my house.
3:20:29
I I because I because I'm an aviation enthusiast.
3:20:33
I track a ADSP data, which is the transponder the helicopter is used, which which will display their flight data, where they're going, how high they are, regularly between 120 350 feet above my house.
3:20:47
I see them take off on Manhattan, climb to 900 feet, and then slowly descend as they cross Brooklyn.
3:20:53
Unfortunately, I live at half a block.
3:20:55
From Flap Bush Avenue, and that's the route they used to go from Manhattan to Kennedy Airport.
3:21:03
I wanted to call that one or 2 things that some of the earlier folks said the helicopter industry representatives I was hoping I could get to go earlier because I wanted to look them in the face when when I said this.
3:21:13
The the lady mentioned about IFOR helicopter flights for those who who if you don't know is flight in in limited or zero visibility.
3:21:23
Right now, that's the only respite we get is when there are IFRS 4 conditions.
3:21:28
If they allow IFRS flight and helicopter in in in IFOR conditions, we'll have double helicopter traffic that we currently have here in New York City.
3:21:37
I just wanna say, finish by telling you that people who I personally contacted to deal with this condition.
3:21:43
311 multiple times me and my neighbors.
3:21:45
Hakim Jeffries, my congressman, waste of time.
3:21:48
The FAA and Farmingdale No answer.
3:21:50
We'll call you back.
3:21:51
Never call me back.
3:21:52
FAA in Washington, DC wasted my time.
3:21:55
Uber Air, Blade Mobility, and the other is responsible for all that that commuter helicopters.
3:22:00
And they are the ones directly responsible for the increase in helicopter traffic.
3:22:06
The it's the it's the mobility air mobility apps that are originating in downtown, and the west 30th Street, California.
3:22:15
They're the number one driver of the increase in helicopter traffic.
3:22:18
So