The military helicopters flying directly overhead are driving me nuts. Is there any push to request/demand/require the military to fly out over the ocean, just a little off shore instead of directly over the heads of half the population of the state 20 or more times a day? Who is or has done anything about this intense and debilitating source of aggravation? I am ready to join the fight. Please contact me.
Quieter O'ahu Response:
Thank you for your email. We will post it to our noise blog, without your personally identifying information of course.
If you go to our Noise Blog and enter the search term Helicopters you'll find many posts that we've made over the years. Aircraft noise in general was and continues to be among the worst offenders for noise on O'ahu, almost exclusively military and tour helicopters. When fighting for changes to their operations we are essentially fighting DoD and the FAA - both of which have proven uncoorperative and unwieldy.
Our best advocate has been Congressman Ed Case of the 1st District. He has been spearheading legislative and Congressional action to try and mitigate this ever-present problem. Here is an excerpt from our Noise Blog about Congressman Case:
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Congressman Ed Case, Hawai'i 1st District, Endorses Action Against Growing Aircraft Noise and Safety Threat 5/23/2019
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Opinion:
In a letter dated 21 May 2019 and addressed to O'ahu Neighborhood Boards, Congressman Ed Case applauded the activity of the Neighborhood Boards system, and encouraged continued participation by board members and the neighborhoods at large.
In addition, Congressman Case took the opportunity to discuss the problem with aircraft on O'ahu. Quoting from his letter
"There is one issue that I have already heard from you loud and clear throughout all of O'ahu, and that is the rapidly worsening safety risks and community disruptions caused by tour helicopters and other small aircraft. Even before the tragic crash just weeks ago of a tour helicopter into a residential neighborhood of Kailua, it was clear that these risks and impacts were not acceptable and that the helicopter and other aircraft owners and operators did not have any real intention of addressing community concerns voluntarily. Please be very sure of my full commitment to taking any and all actions necessary to address this widespread risk and disruption and restoring safety and peace to our neighborhoods islandwide. I will email you separately on this major issue shortly with a summary of where I believe we are and what we should do together."
Quieter O'ahu applauds this statement from Congressman Case on this statewide noise and safety issue. Everyone should now watch to see how Congressman Case uses his congressional position to work with the FAA and State representatives to translate these words into meaningful action to mitigate or eliminate the tour helicopter and small plane problem.
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Recommend that you forward your concerns as you expressed to us to Congressman Case's office. Use the Contact form on his website at: https://case.house.gov. Keeping this issue in the forefront with our representatives does help.
Mahalo,
Quieter O'ahu