HANGAR TALK
the airspace in question. The FAA believes its author ity permits the restriction of helicopter operations predi cated solely on noise com plaints. We respectfully dis agree. We believe that such restrictions have the potential to actually compromise safety and reduce efficient use of the airspace.
HAI president Matt Zuccaro
HAI President's Message: We Get No Respect
Assaults on our industry have become interwoven into the very fabric that constitutes our daily activities. Don’t get me wrong, I welcome discus sions on relevant issues such as safety and noise issues, and appreciate the opportunity to improve in these areas. I am talking about inyour face, nocompromise, takeno prisoner assaults. For example, a community leader once told me, “You better get retrained; we are going to put you out of business.” Good news here, other community representa tives indicated they did not agree and looked forward to working with us. Or how about a congressman whose stated goal is to never see or hear another helicopter over his dis trict? What can I say — maybe my new mission should be to make sure he does not get re elected. I tend to lose my sense of humor when I hear such things.
Even hospital heliports are being challenged by some communities they serve: the
MAY 2012
logic being, sure, save me and my family when we are in need — we love you — just come and go from another location, not my neighbor hood.
It also appears that some elected officials want to legis late aviation activities rather than allow regulatory agen cies to do their job. This is not good for our industry because these lawmakers are circum venting the current rulemak ing process, which seeks input from all parties and allows for appropriate aviation expert ise and analysis. Legislative solutions tend to make the sit uation worse, create safety gaps, eliminate jobs, and reduce industry contributions to the communities they rep resent.
One such legislative initia tive began with a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to create restrictive routes and alti tudes — just for helicopters — in response to noise com plaints that Sen. Chuck Schumer (DN.Y.) had received from some of his constituents on Long Island, N.Y. There was no indication of unsafe or inefficient use of
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It is noteworthy that, in some instances, the noise complaints appear to come from a handful of households, with some individuals making hundreds of complaints a month. No research or scien tific study has been conduct ed. Meanwhile, flight tracking data indicates that the rotor craft industry is achieving extremely high levels of com pliance with voluntary noise abatement procedures estab lished in response to commu nity concerns.
Unfortunately, the FAA NPRM process wasn’t moving fast enough for Sen. Schumer, so he attempted to attach an amendment similar to the NPRM to the FAA authoriza tion bill. Thankfully, through the efforts of HAI and our affil iate member, the Eastern Region Helicopter Council, and with some common sense in Congress, his amendment was removed from the bill. Done deal, you might say — not yet. Sen. Schumer then tried another amendment attached to the federal high way bill. Again, industry action and common sense in Congress prevailed, and it was removed from the bill. Now we’re done — not so fast. Within a few days of the second amendment being
removed from the highway bill, Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood and Sen. Schumer announced that the original NPRM process had been placed on a fast track with the highest pri ority — with the promise that the new rules will be in place for the summer season. Bottom line, Congress rejected the Schumer amend ment, twice. The FAA was moving forward in meeting due diligence in the NPRM process, which is good consid ering the numerous negative responses it received on the proposed rule, the lack of any research or study, the absence of any safety benefit or enhancement of airspace uti lization, and the potential to make the situation worse. I say, good for the FAA. Congress got it right on this one; they recognized that a legislative solution was not the correct one. The FAA should not be coerced into replacing bad lawmaking with bad rulemaking because of political pressure. The FAA deserves better, and we deserve better.
To Sen. Schumer, as always, we welcome the opportunity to continue our ongoing work with you and your con stituents on this important issue via our joint cooperative efforts. We respectfully do not think a legislative solution is the correct venue.
What are your thoughts? Let me know via email: TAIL
ROTOR@AOL.COM.
As always, have a safe flight and fly neighborly. ◆
Best Regards — MATT.
ROTORCRAFTPRO.COM
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