By Bob Harris
I don’t know what came first — the airports or the homes in Queens. At any rate, the aviation industry has grown over the decades, producing jobs and driving the economy of Queens. The Port Authority and the various airlines constantly court high school graduates. August Martin High School trains students for clerical and other related jobs in our airports, Aviation High School trains students to repair airplanes and the private College of Aeronautics provides advanced training.
Notwithstanding the positive aspects of the aviation industry there is the noise and air pollution caused by the many airplanes that fly into and out of Kennedy and LaGuardia airports. The noise can come from departing or arriving planes passing overhead every two or three minutes for an hour or so. A few planes might not be noticed but 20 or 30, one after another, can be pretty annoying.
Individual civic associations have fought the air pollution and so has a group called Sane Aviation For Everyone, or S.A.F.E. This group consists of civic association members and individuals from the areas near JFK and LaGuardia airports. They lobby legislators on the city, state and federal level, hold meetings, conduct rallies, issue press releases and work to have laws passed.
One must realize that the silent chemical air pollution is more dangerous than the noise pollution. All types of chemicals are released when aviation fuel is burned. Often airplanes have to dump excess fuel when they come in for a landing or have to abort a takeoff and quickly land. The invisible air particles are one of the leading causes of asthma. This is one reason why one sees many young students holding medical inhalers on very humid, smog-filled days.
Over the years our congressmembers have tried to correct these problems with federal laws. Congressmembers from other cities work together because the air pollution caused by airplanes is not unique to New York City. Over the decades officials such as former Congressman Ben Rosenthal, Congresswoman Nita Lowey, former Borough President Claire Shulman and Assemblyman Mark Weprin have worked on the issue.
A few years ago there was the proposal for a “Bubble Bill” to make the air above an airport subject to regulation. It hasn’t been passed by Congress. Constant pressure has caused the airlines to slowly phase out the louder Stage 2 engines and use quieter Stage 3 engines on jet planes. Pressure caused the Federal Aviation Administration to rotate the takeoffs in a fan-like manner so they don’t constantly fly over the same neighborhood week after week. I haven’t heard too many loud planes too often lately. It will take years and constant pressure and complaints to continue to reduce noise and air pollution.
I remember reading in a S.AF.E. fact sheet that the cargo carriers buy up the old Stage 2 planes and use them for late night cargo flights. I believe that is what we hear some late nights when the humidity and wind is blowing toward our homes or apartments. I don’t think these older, noisier planes are permitted to fly to European airports.
A new high-tech plan by Congressmembers Joe Crowley, Carolyn Maloney and Carolyn McCarthy would provide an Internet flight-tracking system with a “close real-time map” that can monitor planes. For security reasons there would be a 10-minute delay in providing information. The FAA then could provide the airline, tail number and altitude so it could be determined if the plane had violated height limitations.
Arriving planes are blue and departing planes are green on the computer display map. The system is used in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Louisville. The congressmembers have asked the Congressional House Transportation Committee for $240,000 to operate the system at LaGuardia Airport. The information could be provided on a Web site.
I hope this works but it is not clear who would judge the infractions, issue the complaints, hold the hearing and what the penalty would be to the airline. The illegal destruction of houses continues and illegal conversions continue in our residential neighborhoods; I have not read of any builders who have lost their licenses or actually paid fines and corrected the illegal construction.
GOOD AND BAD NEWS OF THE WEEK
Another story has surfaced about the private use of the officers of the New York Police Department. It seems that former Mayor Giuliani’s ex-wife Donna Hanover and her children still have police protection. With the amount of money the family has they could hire private guards, if there even is a credible threat to them.
You might remember that former Police Commissioner Howard Safir had 16 months of police protection. The officers ran errands for him. Then there was the use of several officers to operate the police museum in Manhattan. If the officers had been injured on the job and were given a few months of light duty in the museum I might understand. Yes, protect those who are threatened but don’t use the NYPD as private guards; they should be on the streets stopping crime, which they do quite well.
