By Betsy Scheinbart
Howard Beach residents and others who live near Kennedy International Airport protested Saturday the planned return of the Concorde to New York, a supersonic plane they contend has destroyed their neighborhoods with unbearable noise and pollution.
“We are a small group, but we are boisterous,” said Lew Simon, a Howard Beach resident and candidate for City Council District 32 who organized the protest Saturday. “SST will not come back to Kennedy Airport.”
British Airways and Air France are both hoping to resume service on the Concorde from JFK to London and Paris this fall, but are waiting for the British and French authorities to approve a new certificate of air-worthiness for the planes.
Both airlines stopped flying the supersonic jet just over a year ago after an Air France Concorde crashed on takeoff at Charles De Gaulle International Airport, killing all 109 people on board and four others on the ground.
“Until we get recertification of the aircraft, we will not be able to fly commercially,” said John Lampl, a vice president for British Airways in Queens.
The Federal Aviation Administration is not involved in the rectification process, said Jim Peters, a spokesman for the FAA in Queens.
Only about 15 people attended the protests Saturday, but Simon and his colleagues at Sane Aviation for Everyone Inc. known as SAFE have collected 8,000 signatures for their petition, supporting the reduction of airport noise and other aircraft regulations.
“It is simply outrageous to have supersonic transport planes be reintroduced for only very wealthy people and to inflict all of this on the thousands of people who live near the airport,” said Dr. Frans Verhagan, president of SAFE.
A one-way ticket to London or France on the Concorde, which cuts the seven-hour flight by about half, costs more than $10,000.
SAFE members at the protest said the Concorde’s supersonic boom sets off car and home alarms as it passes and causes their homes to crack. They also believe the pollution from the planes causes a higher rate of asthma, cancer and other health problems in their communities.
“Each and every day more and more people are going deaf over planes. We do not want any more airplanes flying over our homes,” Simon said. He said he would prefer it if the planes went over Jamaica Bay instead.
But Lampl said the plane already flies over the bay, not Howard Beach, and although it passes over the Rockaways, the aircraft is cruising at 10,000 to 15,000 feet at that point.
In addition, the airplane turns off its after-burner about 60 or 70 seconds after takeoff to minimize the noise, Lampl said.
“We are doing everything we can to make the airplane a responsible neighbor,” Lampl said. “The noise impact on the community is minimal.”
U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-Forest Hills), whose district covers Howard Beach and part of the Rockaways, attended the protest and spoke out against the Concorde.
“This is part of an attitude of arrogance on the part of the airline that will all come back to haunt them,” the congressman said. “Part of the problem is they were granted a loop-hole in the law that we have to close.”
All jetliners except the Concorde are required to operate at federally mandated Stage III noise levels. Weiner is the author of a congressional bill to ban the Concorde’s exemption from this regulation.
Reach reporter Betsy Scheinbart by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 138.
