FAA must reduce noise from jets on the North Shore

We've been down this runway before. 

Six years ago, when residents of North Shore neighborhoods complained of aircraft noise due to the Kennedy Airport flight patterns, Rep. Tom Suozzi worked with the Federal Aviation Administration and air traffic control personnel to develop new regulations that would reduce noise and improve his constituents' quality of life. 

Now, he and other local elected officials are right back in the same flight pattern. 

In 2019, Suozzi and the FAA agreed to a deal that would require planes approaching Kennedy's key arrival runways, known as 22L and 22R, to remain at or above 3,000 feet until they were within 15 miles of the airport. Even that agreement took too long to complete, with multiple delays before it was finally instituted. Once in place, the deal worked; noise decreased. But according to Suozzi, the new regulations were dropped a year and a half later. It's unclear why. Some residents may not have even realized the new regulations had ended, especially during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic when there were fewer flights.

Suozzi told the Newsday editorial board that voters raised the issue during his special election campaign earlier this year, and he's been hearing from more constituents since he returned to the House. His answer as to why this is again an issue, and why the FAA reneged on past agreements, was simple yet direct: "They stink," he said.

"It's very frustrating. People wonder why their government is not responsive," Suozzi said. "Their main mission is safety but they can't forget about us in the process." 

But, he said, there are also relatively simple solutions. Restore the 2019 agreement to keep flights using the runways in question above 3,000 feet until they're 15 miles away from Kennedy Airport. Then, utilize what's known as a "continuous descent procedure" into the runways, to minimize disruptions. And finally, consider additional steps, such as reducing the number of flights that use the runways.

Suozzi, Rep. Anthony D'Esposito and other elected officials asked for those changes in a recent letter to the FAA. Meanwhile, according to the FAA, several Nassau County communities near Kennedy Airport last month filed a rule-making change petition for the FAA to consider. An agency spokesman declined to comment on the situation "until the petition is resolved."

This shouldn't be difficult. The FAA must explain why it backed off the deal it had made and why, seemingly, no one was notified. Then the agency must reinstitute the 2019 parameters, which cost nothing in safety or security, but provided residents with a bit of the quiet they sought.

Once the new rules are in place, the planes overhead can make their final descent without rattling the residents on the ground, allowing everyone to prepare for landing.