Helicopter Noise (jet, Air Force, mechanic, military)
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We get an awful lot of helicopters flying over our house--several dozen every day, weather permitting.
They're mostly tour helicopters, taking folks up to see Volcano National Park. My house is 25 miles from the airport but we(and thousands of other people in our rural/residential neighborhoods) are on the flight path between the airport and the park.
The noise is really annoying. They start as early as 5:30am, loud enough to wake us, even with the double-pane windows closed. They sometimes even fly after dark. They're supposed to fly at 1500' AGL or higher, but many fly much lower.
I've read that New York now requires copters to fly offshore. Anybody know how they did it?
Anybody else dealing with a similar problem? I'd love to exchange strategies to reduce this nuisance.
And if you're considering a helicopter ride, please think about who you're flying over!
I'm not in America, I live near Paris (France) under the flightpath of helicopters, and I concur, it is really annoying! particularly some large models that , depending on the weather, fly low. Some lighter models are not as noisy though.
your best strategy may be based on the noise complaint issue.
check if the airport the helicopters are flying from has a "noise complaint" hotline.
document each flight that you think is "noisy" due to low level flight and call it in.
the airport board has a responsibility to investigate/verify each flight that you call in about.
if, in fact, a flight was below the 1500' AGL requirement as you assert, the operator/pilot may be subject to a FAA enforcement action.
do be prepared to find out that the tour operators are, in fact, operating in conformity with their obligations for altitude and noise. They've got a lot of money invested in their legal operations and business at risk, so most operators/pilots play by the rules to protect themselves from enforcement actions/suspensions/fines.
However, for many folk that find themselves under an existing established legal flight pattern and are sensitized to the noise of these operations, you may find your best option is to move away from that area. This is a not uncommon situation when people buy a residence without knowing there's a flight path overhead or knowing how much they may be sensitized to the noise.
As a former rural airport board member following up on noise complaints, we verified very few violations of altitude or noise control flight paths.
Helicopters are mechanical devices designed to convert petroleum into noise. They are very good at it.
We live under the approach to a modest airport and we have learned to distinguish between the southwest 737's and the Air Force KC135's. The latter ate really loud.
I kind of like helicopters, better than jet noise (live in an airport flight path). Now if they would get something other than AS350's I'd be really happy, lol. I like when they get low so I can see 'em better
The FAA does have a noise complaint hotline, we (and lots of other people) have filed complaints there. But then the FAA says they can't do anything about noise. Um...then why do you have a noise hotline???
We had an FAA inspector come to our house. He pulled flight records for a particularly bad day, and told us that 200 helicopters flew over our house in 4 hours. 1/4 of them were below 500' AGL, and only 1/4 were above the required 1500'. When we followed up, he said there were "no violations" and we couldn't have a copy of the records because they had been destroyed.
The helicopter companies refuse to work with citizen groups or local and state representatives, they simply say they don't have to do what we want, so they won't.
The FAA does have a noise complaint hotline, we (and lots of other people) have filed complaints there. But then the FAA says they can't do anything about noise. Um...then why do you have a noise hotline???
We had an FAA inspector come to our house. He pulled flight records for a particularly bad day, and told us that 200 helicopters flew over our house in 4 hours. 1/4 of them were below 500' AGL, and only 1/4 were above the required 1500'. When we followed up, he said there were "no violations" and we couldn't have a copy of the records because they had been destroyed.
The helicopter companies refuse to work with citizen groups or local and state representatives, they simply say they don't have to do what we want, so they won't.
Your complaints about noisy operations need to be directed to the AIRPORT BOARD at the airport from which the helicopters are operating. This is an entirely different entity than the FAA although they do operate under the FAA/DOT regs and rulings.
PS: if you are in a rural area, the helicopters may in fact be quite legal operating below 500' AGL. In which case, your best option was suggested in my first post.
When I first moved to Alaska we got an apartment just off the east end of Merril Field's main runway. I loved the noise, but 99.9% was small planes. (At that time, I believe Merril was the busiest airport in the world, but it was for general aviation only.)
When I was in ROTC in college I spent a weekend with an Army National Guard aviation battalion and at that time they were flying Bell UH-1H "Huey" helicopters out of a small airfield in a residential area. That particular model of helicopter is famous and notorious for it's giant "whop-whop" thundering approach and residents began complaining about it. The commander of the unit visited with the residents and he agreed to cease flight operations during certain times as much as possible. There were times when this wouldn't be possible and they'd try and let residents know ahead of time if these were planned intrusions. But being military, sometimes situations aren't planned and they had to violate their agreement without notice.
So i'm wondering if the 1500 AGL "requirement" is in fact an agreement made between residents and air crews/airport board rather than being an issue of legality. As a previous poster mentioned, depending on the type of airspace under which you live, they may in fact be operating at legal altitudes.
The 1500' AGL is part of the Air Tour Manual for this area, and includes wide swaths of residential areas (including my house).
The copter pilots ignore the regulations because--despite thousands of complaints--there is no enforcement by FAA or anyone else.
There are many areas that complain about helicopter noise, and some have successfully passed legislation to prevent overflights.
I think our best bet is to get FEDERAL legislation in place. That's going to take citizens from all over the US telling their representatives what they want.
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