New York Daily News: Queens lawmaker files FAA complaint after airplane noise hits ear-splitting levels
State Sen. Tony Avella said the Port Authority and Federal Aviation Administration need to change airplanes and routes to ease excessive noise over parts of Queens. The sound of some recent flights exceeded 90 decibels.
The ear-splitting noise registered by planes flying over northeast Queens last week was only a precursor to the din delivered by one local lawmaker.
State Sen. Tony Avella said he heard the flights all day Oct 7. from the inside of his Bayside office.
Exasperated, he checked the monitoring website set up by the Port Authority.
“It said 91 decibels — that’s incredible,” said Avella (D-Bayside), who later filed a complaint with the Federal Aviation Administration.
“The Centers for Disease Control says anything over 85 is hazardous and you should wear protection,” he said.
The noise has been harder to ignore in parts of Queens since flight patterns were changed two years ago for carriers using LaGuardia and JFK.
“This is just unacceptable,” said Avella, who has lobbied the Port Authority and FAA to reexamine the routes and force airlines to retire the noisiest older jets.
Port Authority officials referred all calls to the FAA, saying it was a flight issue. But the FAA bounced the Daily News back to the Port Authority, saying the agency could not discuss decibel levels unless they were measured by the agency’s own equipment.
Bob Whitehair, a retired airport manager who is part of the Queens Quiet Skiesgroup, watched (and heard) the decibel levels jump over 85 on the same day Avella had his headache.
“People are getting bombarded,” said Whitehair, who lives in Little Neck.
Whitehair measured one flight with the online tracker, showing it went from 88 to 91 decibels as it took off from LaGuardia, and down to 83 as it flew over Flushing and Bayside.
The model was a McDonnell Douglas MD-88, he said.
“This is one of the oldest, noisiest planes left in the system,” Whitehair said of the airliner.
“I’d like to see these planes retired sooner rather than later.”
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