Community Corner

Poll: Noise After New JFK Flight Patterns?

Have you noticed more or less noise since the FAA changed flight patterns over Nassau County Thursday?

The Federal Aviation Administration implemented the second stage of its plan to redesign the airspace over New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia Thursday, increasing the amount of planes flying over Nassau County.

An additional fifth departure route for westbound flights leaving the New York metro area was added on Oct. 20 to augment four existing westbound departure routes.

"The new route will allow planes leaving all of the New York area airports to access westbound high altitude routes more quickly and will help relieve current traffic management restrictions that cause delays," according to a fact sheet posted on the FAA Web site.

Find out what's happening in Malverne-Lynbrookwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

On Thursday, the FAA also began using a new departure procedure at John F. Kennedy International Airport called the "JFK Wrap," which it says allows flights headed westbound from JFK to exit the New York area more efficiently and quickly.

"Before the new procedure was available, aircraft that filed flight plans for high altitude, westbound routes had to converge over a single point in Robbinsville, New Jersey before they were fanned out on separate routes," creating a choke point that caused grond delays at New York area airports during peak traffic periods, the release stated.

Find out what's happening in Malverne-Lynbrookwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Under the new “JFK Wrap” procedure, after taking off from the airport, west-bound flights will first follow a path to the east and then will turn to the north and then to the west, across New Jersey. When they reach northwestern New Jersey, the flights will be directed to multiple points to access the National Airspace System’s high-altitude, west-bound route structure, flying around 20,000 feet.

The FAA has been criticized by Nassau County residents, including those in Malverne, who has led to excessive noise at all hours of the day and night.

"Last night I would have thought a plane was landing in my bedroom!" Patricia McCarthy Candeletti, of Malverne, commented on Facebook after Patch posted about a letter Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy wrote to FAA and Port Authority officials.

"At 11:30 last night I looked out my window and a flight attendant waved at me.......couldn't get any worse!" she added.

The FAA says an environmental analysis it conducted showed that the routing changes from New York to New Jersey will not create any new significant noise impacts in the area, including the portion of the route that flies over Nassau County shortly after departure from JFK.

But we want to hear what local residents are actually experiencing. Have you noticed a change in the air traffic since the new flight plans and departure procedure was implemented Thursday? Has the noise increased, decreased or remained the same? Vote or comment below.

The next meeting of the Town-Village-Aircraft-Safety & Noise Abatement Committee (TVASNAC) will be held Oct. 24 in Lawrence. Stay tuned for more details.


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