EAB Continues Push For Stricter Aircraft Sanctions

Quality of life issues surrounding low-flying aircraft over Garden City have been the main topic of numerous Environmental Advisory Board (EAB) meetings. Members have repeatedly reached out to Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy's office to address the issue on the federal level.

The board wants new legislation to include stricter sanctions, including hefty fines ($10,000 and $50,000) for pilots who ignore altitude restrictions to make them more accountable for their actions.

On behalf of the EAB, Garden City resident member Peter Damiano wrote and sent a letter to McCarthy's representative who attended the board's June meeting.

Damiano states that the representative's attendance at that meeting is timely considering Saturday's incident in which a hydraulic service access door detached from an Alitalia Boeing 767 and crashed in the village near the Franklin Avenue courthouse. The airliner was heading into JFK's runway 22L for landing at the time of incident. 

The following is the EAB's letter:

Dear Ms. Montgomery,

Thank you very much for attending last week's meeting of the Environmental Advisory Board of Garden City. It was very timely given the events of this past Saturday when a metal access door detached from an Alitalia Boeing 767 and fell to the ground in our village near the courthouse on Franklin Avenue. 

Fortunately, no one was hurt, but had it fallen on one of the many residential neighborhoods under the 22L approach, things could have been tragic. While I wish this was a rare event, just last year a metal tail cone from a jumbo jet fell into the yard of a home in Roosevelt. It is becoming all too common and disturbing.

As a local resident impacted by aircraft noise, I certainly appreciate Congresswoman McCarthy's office making an effort to understand the concerns about air noise, safety and pollution in our community. As air traffic over our skies has continued to grow over the years, what once was a quiet community has become a virtual landing strip with the roar of jets continuing every 90 seconds for hours on end. While none of us expect to have perpetually clear skies with no air traffic, there are a number of ways the FAA, the Port Authority and our legislators can work together to alleviate the disproportionate burden of aircraft noise being absorbed by the communities under the Runway 22L flight path into JFK.

A great many Garden City residents, primarily in the Western and Estates section, have voiced concerns over low flying planes into JFK runway 22L. However, altitude is not the only factor impacting the aircraft noise issue. As this email will indicate, the increased volume of arrivals and the flight paths used over our area have combined to severely impact certain neighborhoods on a repeated basis and to expose them to intolerable air noise, pollution and dangers from falling debris.

Volume 

The communities bordering JFK have always experienced airplane noise from planes flying in and out of the airport. However, other communities more distant from JFK, such as Garden City, have seen a marked increase in air noise and pollution. According to the Port Authority's own "Airport Traffic Report," JFK handled 277,761 arrivals and departures in 1991. In their most recent report available to the public, that number in 2008 was a staggering 438,543. Over 150,000 additional aircraft were added to the yearly volume of planes handled by JFK without any significant material change to the runway infrastructure of the airport. The net result is that more flights than ever are coming over Mineola, New Hyde Park, Garden City, Stewart Manor and Franklin Square during the arrival process to runway 22L.

Statistics on JFK's runway utilization have generally been hard to acquire.  However, in a December 2009 meeting with representatives of the FAA, Congresswoman McCarthy and village residents, the FAA provided some very telling data. The statistics on runway utilization only encompass the period from January 2005 through November 2009, and therefore, they are not skewed in any way as a result of runway 13R/31L's construction in 2010. My hope is that we can make this information more public so that our fellow residents can fully appreciate the disparity in runway usage and how it affects our area. Nonetheless, based on the data from 2005 through November of 2009, we can gather the following:

a. Overall Use: JFK has four runways with arrival points at the end of each runway. That gives the airport eight different arrival approach possibilities which, if divided equitably, would mean about 12.5 percent of arrivals would approach any given end of the runways. Despite being the smallest runway at JFK at 8,400 feet, runway approach 22L has the most arrivals of any of the eight approaches at the airport. In 2009 alone, over 28 percent of all arrivals into JFK were over Nassau County and into runway 22L.  Out of eight possible runway approaches, almost one-third of the entire arrival traffic at JFK is absorbed by the Mineola-New Hyde Park-Garden City-Stewart Manor-Franklin Square corridor into 22L. This disproportionate routing of air noise on our community is simply astonishing.

b. Increased Use: Between 2006 and 2008, arrivals into runway 22L increased from 42,720 to 64,046 per year. That is an amazing 51 percent increase in a two-year period. While arrivals into 22L have been increasing at an alarming rate, other runway approaches have seen significant decreases without any sort of explanation to the community. For example, between 2007 and 2009, runway 31R approaches saw a 33 percent decline, and runway 13L approaches over the Belt Pkwy saw an incredible 41 percent decrease.  

c. Summer Arrivals: If the above numbers were not disturbing enough, I analyzed arrivals during summer months, when the weather is its finest and residents would like to keep windows open and enjoy activities outdoors. In July of 2008, the 22L approach had a whopping 9,034 arrivals in one month's time. That is an average of almost 300 flights per day and is by far the highest number of arrivals for any runway for the five years of data given to us by the FAA. In August of 2009, the 22L approach had another 8,441 flights. To give some perspective for these two months, runway 22L absorbed 42 percent of all arrivals into JFK during each of those months.

Conclusion: The FAA and Port Authority must do a better job of equitable distribution of flights over our area. There has been a clear pattern over the last few years of more volume over Western Nassau County and into runway 22L. We need the FAA to closely examine this and find measures to reduce the overall percentages of flight volume over our area. If the FAA and Port Authority make a more concerted effort to use runways such as 13L, 31R, 31L and 4R for arrivals, I believe that will greatly help reduce this disproportionate burden over our community. Going forward, I believe that the FAA should provide the Village of Garden City with quarterly statistics on runway utilization at JFK. As federal taxpayers we deserve to be informed about whether or not there is equitable distribution of aircraft arrivals in our area.

Altitude

Along with the increased volume, another element of the aircraft noise problem involves the altitude of descending arrivals as they pass over our village. Using any standard mapping software, it is clear that the heart of our village is eight or more miles from the start of runway 22L at JFK. Under the FAA's own standard procedures, for example the VOR/DME protocol for arrival into runway 22L, the proper angle of descent is 3.14 degrees. Basic trigonometry will tell you that over Garden City, aircraft should be higher than 2,300 feet over our homes. In communications with the FAA, our residents have had conflicting accounts as to the proper altitude at eight miles from JFK. Some responses have acknowledged that the altitude should be 2,300 feet while others have claimed it should be 2,000 feet. Based on all calculations available, we clearly believe that the altitude should be 2,300 feet. Using JFK's own PASSUR website, we routinely see that flights are 1,900-2,000 feet in altitude in most cases. Indeed, some residents have reported cargo planes as low as 1,400 feet with landing gear already down eight miles from the airport. 

The FAA and pilots themselves should be held more accountable for taking these shallow angles of descent. Unfortunately, they are not. Regulations are in place to fine pilots up to $300 for violating altitude restrictions. This of course is a pittance, and from what we have been able to gather, these violations are not even enforced against pilots. There is no incentive to fly at proper altitudes once TRACON releases pilots to land using visual keys and their own discretion. 

Conclusion: As stated at the EAB meeting, we believe there are two solutions to this problem. First, we propose that, either through regulation or legislation, a new system of fines is enacted with violations carrying fines between $10,000 to $50,000 per act. Pilots must be held accountable for their actions. Secondly, we insist that the FAA and Port Authority exclusively use an Instrument Landing System approach into 22L. These approaches force pilots to be more accurate, maintaining their altitudes and paths with more precision. When TRACON simply hands over complete control to a pilot on visual approach, we are seeing extremely low altitude flights which lead to incredibly loud engine throttling to adjust for an altitude that is already too low. The EAB and Trustee Quinn believe that the ILS approach should be used more often, if not exclusively.

Flight Paths

There are essentially three flight paths which affect our area: 

1) Instrument Landing Approach (ILS): This is the main approach to runway 22L and flies over the Western section of Garden City, along with New Hyde Park and South Floral Park. This approach relies on a precision guidance system that is a combination of radio signals and high intensity lighting arrays. Normally, this method is used during overcast or poor weather days, but it can also be used during clear days. This path runs directly in line with runway 22L.

2) VOR/DME: This approach uses VHF radio signals from various beacons to determine positioning. This method is less precise than the ILS approach and is normally used on great weather days. The VOR/DME approach cuts right through the Estates section of Garden City, over a small portion of the Garden City Country Club and then over portions of Stewart Manor and Franklin Square. Because this approach is used on clear sunny days, the residents of these areas are the most negatively impacted during times when they would like to enjoy quality of life outside.

3) Belmont Visual: This approach partially affects the Northwestern section of Garden City and then moves on to parts of New Hyde Park and South Floral Park. It relies on the pilot's skills to visually land the aircraft, and it is normally reserved for the best weather days. Planes normally fly to a point slightly east of the Belmont Racetrack and then turn quickly left as they descend and straighten out to runway 22L. 

All of these paths affect two sets of neighborhoods: either the group of Western Garden City, New Hyde Park and South Floral Park, or the group including the Estates Section, Western Garden City, Stewart Manor and Franklin Square. Based on the volume figures above, we essentially have two sets of neighborhoods that are absorbing almost one-third of the entire arrivals traffic into JFK. We find this unacceptable. The FAA must look at alternative flight paths to help mitigate the impact of air noise, dangerous debris and pollution over these communities. 

Conclusion: I believe there are a number of possibilities to deal with flight paths. First, if runway 4L/22R were used more often for arrivals instead of just departures, I believe that would help mitigate some of the noise impact. Secondly, there are other approach paths sometimes used where planes trace a route over either Hempstead Turnpike or the Southern State and then curve back over Elmont before landing at runway 22L. This rarely used route should be implemented more often. It is essentially a "Highway Visual" much like the Belt Parkway Visual into runway 13R. It would be fairly easy to establish this path as a regular procedure into 22L. This would allow for an additional flight approach into 22L at a comfortable angle (much more so than the Parkway Visual) and would help alleviate the undue burden of air noise on these two sets of communities. If our leaders discuss alternative arrival paths to runway 22L with the FAA, I believe we can find smart solutions for our problem. Now more than ever, our leaders must press the FAA and Port Authority to begin thinking about new solutions to this long-time problem. 

Arrival Times

As Congresswoman McCarthy has identified in the past, Congress passed legislation in 2000 to phase out slot restrictions at JFK. Starting on Janu. 1, 2007 the restrictions on the hourly departures and arrivals into JFK were completely eliminated. The volume of air traffic since has exploded and the FAA has begun utilizing three of its four runways for longer periods of time. This severely has limited the number and length of breaks between aircraft flights over our towns and villages. Even worse, the elimination of the slot restrictions at JFK lead the airport and New York TRACON to deviate from a Letter of Agreement where flights were more equitably distributed among communities and where runways 22L/R were not to be used for arrivals between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m. The net result is that residents in our communities cannot even sleep at night. Flights routinely fly into runway 22L well past midnight and into the early hours of the morning. 

Conclusion: I believe our elected leaders must convince the Port Authority and the FAA to sign a new Letter of Agreement which at the very least institutes the nightly restrictions on flights over Western Nassau County and restores some peace and quiet to residents attempting to sleep during those hours.

Between the roar of low flying jets, the incessant rows of planes for hours at a time, the pollution and the falling debris, the residents of Garden City cannot simply stand by and accept what is being done to our community as well as neighboring towns. We respectfully ask Congresswoman McCarthy and our other federal legislators to review the above findings and conclusions and to proactively work with the FAA to reduce this intolerable burden.

(Editor's Note: Garden City residents are encouraged to log on to the Aviation Development Council's website, select the link to "PASSUR AirportMonitor" or link directly to the JFK Airport website to determine the identity, altitude, origin, aircraft type and glide path used for any flight within the past three months. Retrieved information should be given to the FAA at 718-995 5755. When lodging a complaint, be sure to include the flight number, carrier code or name, altitude recorded, time and any other available information like origin code and perceived noise level.)