Plane noise needs to be addressed

To the Editor:

Residents in communities surrounding JFK Airport know all too well the problem of jet noise. Over the decades, they have witnessed an increasing number of flights in and out of JFK. To accommodate the increase, the curfew from midnight to 6 a.m. was eliminated in the 1990s. Plane noise now occurs virtually at all hours.

There is, however, a bit of good news: Communities around JFK now have noise monitors. Even Floral Park, which is several miles from JFK, has a monitor.

Astoundingly, Valley Stream and Rosedale, which experience the lowest flight levels and greatest noise, along with Elmont, Lynbrook, Malverne and Rockville Centre, have no monitors. With increasing flights over these communities, monitors need to be there to monitor the number of flights and decibel/noise levels.

Increasingly over the last few years, more arrivals and even departures are using the shortest runways at JFK. Planes, including jumbo jets, are landing and even departing from them. Witnessing first-hand the slow and labored takeoffs of jumbo jets via the shortest runway, it is quite evident this is a real safety issue. Jumbo jets require much longer runways to safely climb into the sky. Curiously, $363 million was recently spent to extend the east-west runways to accommodate the jumbo jets and cargo planes. These runway extensions were part of a master plan to route aircraft over the Atlantic Ocean and onward to their destinations. What happened to this plan? Were hundreds of millions of dollars wasted?

Recently, the Port Authority and the Federal Aviation Administration have disclosed that one runway has been shut down due to ‘concrete’ issues. Less than a year since the runway was completed, there is a now a need to close and repair it. Can this be true? This seems incredible. If yes, then the P.A. and FAA have failed once again to do their jobs responsibly. Or is this fiasco a smoke screen to block the implementation of the grand plan to route aircraft out over the Atlantic Ocean? This grand plan has become a political problem because takeoffs to the east would fly over affluent areas with some ritzy estates.

The closing of the runway has caused a gross alteration in the distribution of flights. Recently, regardless of the wind patterns, flights to and fro JFK invariably use the northeast corridor over Rosedale, Valley Stream, etc. As a result, Rosedale, Valley Stream, Elmont, Lynbrook, Malverne and other communities are the unhappy recipients of these diverted flights and unwanted noise. There is apparent favoritism in current flight assignments by the Port Authority and the Federal Aviation Administration. This is a situation that needs addressing. Otherwise, it is more than a fairness issue; it is one of abuse and discrimination.

Dr. John Humins
Valley Stream