Lawmaker wants meeting on chopper noise

HILO — U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz wants the Federal Aviation Administration to meet with Hawaii residents who are frustrated by tour helicopter noise.

“I’ve been working on finding a solution,” he said via email. “We have made several requests to the FAA and Hawaii Department of Transportation to convene a meeting of stakeholders, including the community and tour companies, to find a solution to this problem.”

Complaints have focused on noise and what are perceived to be low-altitude flights. But aviation officials have said tour helicopters actually fly at proper altitudes and do not make more noise than a passing vehicle.

The Hawaii Island Coalition Malama Pona, or HICoP (www.hicop.org), has been organizing sign-waving sessions near the entrance to the Hilo International Airport. HICoP wants all tour helicopters to fly off-shore routes to and from places like the lava ocean entry, rather than over residential areas.

HICoP on Wednesday sued to force the FAA to create Air Tour Management Plans for national parks, including Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.

HICoP president Bob Ernst said Wednesday there should not be flights over the park or residential areas in Hilo and Puna because they are specified as “wilderness” and “noise-sensitive” areas by both the FAA and the Hawaii Department of Transportation.

During his most recent request a few weeks ago, Schatz said, “we emphasized the urgency of organizing a meeting as soon as possible, and I expect that the public will have an opportunity to express their concerns directly to decision-makers shortly.”

Ernst said HICoP supports Schatz, has offered to host the meeting, and doesn’t understand why a meeting first proposed in the spring takes so long to organize.

Ian Gregor, public affairs manager for the Pacific Division of the FAA, acknowledged “the FAA’s experience is that the most-effective measures to address noise concerns are voluntary measures developed collaboratively by members of a community roundtable.”

But he said the FAA itself doesn’t organize such meetings.

Bodhi Anderson of Hilo, a medical officer for the Marine Corps, works from home.

“I’m a combat veteran, so having helicopters fly over my home from 5 a.m. to as late as 10 p.m. … brings up (Post-Traumatic Distress Disorder) symptoms,” he said.

Anderson, a physician assistant, offers medical appointments via telemedicine and said he has to interrupt an appointment when a helicopter approaches and wait until it flies away to resume.

Anderson served in combat during the first Gulf War. He said there are hundreds of veterans from many wars who live on the Big Island and are affected by helicopter noise.

“Rapid heart rate and the stress of feeling like you’re in a combat zone” happens to Anderson when he hears helicopters, including both tour helicopters and military helicopters that train on the Big Island, he said.

A regulation called “Special Operating Rules for Air Tour Operators in the State of Hawaii” says “no person may conduct an air tour in Hawaii in a single-engine helicopter beyond the shore of any island, regardless of whether the helicopter is within gliding distance of the shore,” according to the FAA.

That would make HIC0P’s off-shore preference difficult to fulfill.

The exceptions to the Special Operating Rules include helicopters equipped with “floats adequate to accomplish a safe emergency ditching” and life-vests for passengers.

Gregor did not say what impact members of Congress might have on the FAA.

“I am not going to speculate about any action elected officials may or may not take,” he said in an email.

But, he said, “to our knowledge, we have not received any recent written inquiries regarding Big Island tour-helicopter issues.”

In the long term, improvements in technology might make helicopters quieter.

Gregor said new, and still evolving, “hush technology” can decrease noise — but it can’t eliminate it.

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Email Jeff Hansel at jhansel@hawaiitribune-herald.com.