NEW YORK STATE LEGISLATURE 

Michael P. Huerta 

Acting Administrator 

Department of Transportation 

Federal Aviation Administration 

800 Independence Avenue, SW 

Washington, DC 20591 

October 12,2012 

Re: Request for Approval of the Atlantic Route for Long Island Helicopter Traffic 

Dear Acting Administrator Huerta: 

We write you as elected officials from all levels of government representing the East End of Long 

Island. The undersigned are the elected officials at the Federal, State and County levels, all the Town 

Supervisors, and all the Village Mayors representing all municipalities in the five East End Towns of 

Suffolk County. 

We are united in our position that, despite significant efforts to mitigate helicopter noise, 

helicopter noise on the East End remains a major, unresolved "quality of life" issue for our region, which 

also adversely impacts a regional economy dependent on tourism and the second-home industry. 

The current situation remains unsatisfactory. For some local communities, the situation has 

actually gotten worse during the summer of 2012. The focus of community complaints has centered on 

helicopter traffic utilizing East Hampton Town Airport. Federal intervention must be a part of the 

solution. 

We note the FAA formally designated a North Shore Route by rule adopted in July 2012, which 

was implemented in August 2012. However, no action has been taken by the FAA with regard to an 

Atlantic Route for the South Shore as was requested by East End local governments and officials by a 

letter to the FAA dated, June 24, 2010 (attached). We do not need to wait for the end of the two-year test 

period for the North Shore Route to know that we also need a South Shore Route to mitigate East End 

noise. By this letter, we renew our request for the establishment of the Atlantic route. 

The source of the overwhelming majority of helicopter noise complaints centers on north-south 

cross island transits over residential communities. Most notable are the transits from the North Shore 

Route to and from East Hampton Airport. No matter how the deck is re-shuffled with regard to these 

transit routes, there is no acceptable transit route solution to mitigate helicopter noise on the East End. 

Rather, helicopter noise can only be substantially mitigated by reducing the number of northsouth helicopter transits. The establishment of the mandatory North Shore Route mitigated the impacts of 

helicopter noise in Nassau County and Western Suffolk by keeping helicopters one mile offshore in the 

Long Island Sound, but did nothing to alleviate the problem on the East End. This goal can only be 

accomplished by the establishment ofboth an Atlantic Route and a North Shore Route. 

In conclusion, we urge the FAA to act immediately to approve the Atlantic Route proposed in 

our June 24,2010 letter. Your consideration is greatly appreciated. 

FAA-121 018-009 
Respectfully, 

Timothy Bishop 

Congressman 

U.S. House of Representatives 

~~~ Dan Losquadro 

Assemblyman 

New York State Assembly 

James D. Dougherty 

Supervisor 

Town of Shelter Island 

Sean M. Walter 

Supervisor 

Town of Riverhead 

~hf. }f HP--rv 

Laura Nolan 

Mayor 

Village of North Haven 

Brian 

~J/.L Gilbride · 

Mayor 

Y~iSag H~bo< 

David Nyce 

Mayor 

Village of Greenport 

2 

~;~ Senator 

New York State Senate 

~..L-.:.,....__& Jay Schneiderman 

Legislator 

Suffolk County Legislarure 

Scott A. Russell 

Supervisor 

Town of Southold 

Anna Throne- Holst 

Supervisor 

Town of Southampton 

Timothy Hogue 

Mayor 

Village of Dering Harbor 

cc: U.S. Senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand 

enclosure 

FAA-121018-009 

:1-w:£~, ~ 

Fred W. Thiele, Jr. 

Assemblyman 

New York State Assembly 

Edward P. Romaine 

Legislator 

Suffolk County Legislarure 

East Hampton Town Councilman 

Airport Liaison 

Christine P. Scalera 

Councilwoman 

Town of Southampton 

Paul F. Rickenbach, Jr. 

Mayor 

Village of East Hampton 

Mark Epley 

Mayor 

Village of Southampton 

I e · .............._ 
OFFICE OF THE SUPERVISOR 

Town Hall 

P.O. Box970 

38 North Ferry Road 

Shelter Island, NY 11964-0970 

James Dougherty 

Supervisor 

June 24,2010 

Federal Aviation Administration 

Docket Operations M-30 

1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., 

Room Wl2-140 

West Building Ground Floor 

Washington, DC 20590-0001 

Dear J. Randolph Babbitt, 

Phone (631) 749-0015 

Fax (631) 749-0728 

jdough erty@s helterislandtown. us 

This letter is to express the support of the East End Supervisors listed below for the 

final recommendations of the East End Helicopter Noise St2.keholders Group numbered 

1 through 9 attached to this letter. Docket 20 I 0-0302. 

Helicopter flight noise has been an ongoing issue for the East End towns and villages. 

The efforts of Senator Schumer and the Stakeholders committee have our full support. 

Sincerely, 

William Wilkinson 

Supervisor 

Town of East Hampton 

FAA-121018-009 

James Dougherty 

Supervisor 

Town of Shelter Island 

Anna Throne-Holst Scott Russell 

Supervisor Supervisor 

Town of Southampton Town of Southold 
06-21-2010 Revised Final Recommendations of 

East End Helicopter Noise Stakeholders Group 

in response to FAA proposal FAA Docket 2010-0302 

Recommendations: 

The following recommendations shall apply to helicopter traffic to and from East 

Hampton Airport (HTO), Gabreski Airport (FOK), Southampton Village Heliport (87N) 

and Montauk Airport (MTP), collectively the East End Airports. 

1. There should be two FAA mandatory designated routes for helicopter traffic to 

and from the East End Airports: a 'South Shore Route' and a 'North Shore 

Route'. This is essential in order to accommodate the important southerly 

transition routes from HTO and the other East End Airports and to equitably 

distribute the volume of helicopter traffic using the North and South Shore routes. 

2. The FAA should establish procedures in coordination with East End Airports to 

monitor and enforce compliance with the proposed routes. 

3. When departing from either of the two Shore Routes transiting to/from any East 

End Airport or traversing the area between the two Routes, a minimum altitude of 

3000 ft. for any helicopter must be achieved as quickly as possible and maintained 

until within the approach area of the destination airport. 

4. The South Shore Route requires a 'helicopter only flight layer' at JFK between 

500-800 ft and above the current VFR corridor to encourage a fair portion of 

traffic to take this Route. This layer would be similar to the current SFRA Hudson 

River Rules. 

5. The North Shore Route to HTO and MTP should only permit transit to the east of 

Plum Gut, then over water to the maximum extent possible, directly to and from 

HTOandMTP. 

6. Both North Shore and South Shore Routes should require helicopters to fly not 

less than one mile from the shore. 

7. All helicopter traffic using East End Airports must follow protocols and noise 

abatement procedures as established for each airport to manage helicopter traffic. 

8. HTO and FOK airports should be empowered either directly or via the FAA to 

manage flight concentrations and nighttime/early morning flights. 

9. The foregoing provisions are inter-independent and inseparable and are supported 

only if adopted in their entirety. 

June 21, 2010 

KC/DMK 

FAA-121018-009 
I - ___J 

Fw: Letter to Mr. Huerta 

Scott Gore to: Lisa D Walker, Gladys L Stuart 

Cc: Brian Langdon, Roderick D Hall 

Please load for response. Thx. 

Scott 

Sent from my Blackberry 

From: "Longwell, Oliver" [Oiiver.Longwell@mail.house.gov] 

Sent: I 0115/2012 02:31 PM AST 

To: Scott Gore 

Subject: Letter to Mr. Huerta 

Hi Scott, 

10/15/2012 05:43PM 

For the time being, I am helping out with FAA issues and wanted to bring this letter from Congressman 

Bishop and a group of local elected officials to your attention in the hope that it could be brought to 

Acting Director Huerta's attention and a reply sent as quickly as possible. 

Please let me know if you have any questions. 

Oliver Longwell 

Communications Director-- Congressman Tim Bishop 

Office: (631) 289-6500 

Mobile: (202) 225-3645 

Sign up for Congressman Bishop's e-Newsletter 

9 ,,._ 

~ 

FAALetter.pdf 

FAA-121 018-009