天空属于谁？
来源：Jane 点击：浏览 2095摘自Dan's Hamptons.com
当局质疑直升机飞行高度, "看得见的噪音"
本月初，Suffolk 县立法机关委员Edward Romaine提交了一份议案，要求限定在Suffolk 上空飞行的直升机的最低高度，希望通过这种方式来降低直升机飞行是产生的噪音。不幸的是，根据美国FAA法规，这项议案明显地不会起任何作用。
Issues concerning airports in Suffolk County are mostly a matter for the owning municipalities. The county owns Francis S. Gabreski Airport (FAA Identifier FOK, Westhampton) and Montauk Airport (MTP), while East Hampton Airport (HTO) is owned by the Town of East Hampton, and the Southampton Heliport is the property of Southampton. However, while the towns and county may have some say over the airport grounds, any craft - be it plane, helicopter or otherwise - is under the jurisdiction of the FAA once airborne.
According to an August 6 entry on the Eastern Region Helicopter Council's (ERHC) website, "...localities on Long Island have proposed local legislation to bar or limit flight over their towns and impose fines or jail for pilots. Such legislation or discussion gives false hope to citizens, as localities are preempted by the federal government on issues of airspace regulation." These sentiments are echoed by FAA spokesman Jim Peters, who expressed to the press that "The FAA is the sole manager of the nation's airspace," referring to the fact that his agency does not mandate any minimum altitude for helicopters.
According to the Federal Aviation Regulations section on "Air Traffic and General Operating Rules," "Helicopters may be operated at less than the minimums prescribed [for other aircraft] if the operation is conducted without hazard to persons or property on the surface. In addition, each person operating a helicopter shall comply with routes or altitudes specifically prescribed for helicopters by the Administrator."
While Romaine (R-Center Moriches) stands by his bill, claiming that the legislative counsel didn't see the federal rulings as overruling, there has been - or at least there is supposed to be - a change already in place. Last winter, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Rep. Tim Bishop (D-Southampton) brokered a voluntary agreement with the ERHC that recommended helicopters fly at a minimum altitude of 2,500 feet when traveling to either Gabreski, East Hampton or Montauk airports. Unfortunately, its success has been difficult to measure because, while Bishop's office has released numbers that show a 63 percent compliance with the suggested altitude minimum, the ERHC claims that its compiled data shows 85 percent of helicopter flights met the noise abatement routes.
Romaine has continued to express hope that the county's continued attention to the subject of helicopter noise would affect the FAA to the point that they would be moved to make a change, not only in the altitude but in the flying routes. The hope is that helicopters would travel over water as much as possible, and would have multiple exit and entrance points over land. The legislator, as well as Schumer and Bishop, feel that the change would alleviate noise complaints, as well as concerns over possible health and property damage from the reported vibrations generated by low-flying copters.
For the FAA to amend rules and restrictions on helicopter flight, however, would involve a massive policy shift. In 2004, the FAA released a 71-page report to Congress entitled the "Nonmilitary Helicopter Urban Noise Study," in relation to a section of the Wendell H. Ford Aviation Investment and Reform Act for the 21st Century - a public and federal law designed to improve airline safety (also known as "AIR-21"). This extensive study claims that helicopter noise is not physically harmful and is unlikely to disturb sleep, and discusses the "possible phenomena of virtual noise," which the document describes as "a set of non-acoustical factors, such as bias (a personal judgment that the helicopter does not need to fly here) and fear (of crashes/injury/death), greatly enhances people's negative attitudes."
The report agrees there should be more studies on how to abate noise, considerations on changes in flight path and altitude, and that pilots should be better instructed in sensitivity toward the noise made by their vehicles. But in the end the FAA says:
"The implementation of any of these alternatives would require comprehensive evaluation ...on a case-by-case basis...Also, careful consideration would have to be taken of any ATC (Air Traffic Control) changes to an urban segment of the NAS (National Airspace System) that could impact the...large commercial transport sector."
In other words, the FAA is not looking to make any changes that could financially injure businesses utilizing helicopters - like chartered flights, often considered the main cause of noise and vibration complaints. However, in spite of the nation's overall weak economic situation, flights that start at over $700 per ticket (to East Hampton Airport) have increased in 2007 by over 17 percent (equaling an increase of 1000 additional flights from 2006 totals). The 2008 figures are still unannounced, but there has been no indication of decrease in business for this year.
And finance figures into the possibilities in other ways as well. The FAA provides funding - some of which has come through the aforementioned AIR-21 in the past - for maintenance, but this federal funding is bonded to compliance of the expected federal standards placed on airports. Jim Brundige, airport manager for the East Hampton Airport, has also made the point publicly that, "You can't restrict an aircraft for noise unless you can prove that it is a real burden," which he says would involve an expensive noise study that would be hard to apply to a small airport such as East Hampton.
After examination of the FAA policies, it seems that any change in the actions of helicopters lies firmly in the hands of the copter industry itself. A further visit to the ERHC website reveals a posting dated August 18 that provides verification, stating, "to all the [Suffolk County] legislators...FAA pre-empts any legislation they would be considering." They continue by claiming that "it's our belief the fastest route to change is to work with us on the underlying issues." It appears that Romaine and other elected officials have their work cut out for them.
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