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+--- Thread: Helicopter Offshore Petition (/showthread.php?tid=18520)
RE: Helicopter Offshore Petition - terracore - 06-25-2017
If they don't want to fly over the ocean, they have the option of putting a helipad closer to the attraction and busing their customers there. The helipad on the Kona side sits along the highway smack dab in the center of a desolate wasteland with no neighborhoods nearby.
RE: Helicopter Offshore Petition - leilanidude - 06-25-2017
Hilo airport - From the FAA. Formatting is a bit off... but avg 204 flights a day for ALL types of aircraft. Note the % by type.
Aircraft based on the field: 44
Single engine airplanes: 15
Multi engine airplanes: 3
Helicopters: 15
Ultralights: 2
Military aircraft: 9
Aircraft operations: avg 204/day *
63% air taxi
21% commercial
11% military
6% local general aviation
* for 12-month period ending 22 June 2016
RE: Helicopter Offshore Petition - HereOnThePrimalEdge - 06-25-2017
I'm waiting for the point in this discussion where our resident contrarian, climate denier, business deregulation advocate, and all around tax pettifog, suggests helicopters provide cool comfortable breezes during the hot summer months to residents as they pass over homes, with their large rapidly whirring blades. Homeowners should in fact pay the helicopter companies for this service, and in addition, helicopter owners deserve a substantial tax break. Why, even though man-made climate change doesn't exist, if it did, the helicopters are probably reducing ground level temperatures by bringing cool upper atmosphere air currents to our planet's surface.
Win-win.
She had never been to Puna before. "Are there lots of people like you?" she asked, with a hopeful expression. (Paraphrased & plagiarized from Elif Batuman)
RE: Helicopter Offshore Petition - MarkP - 06-25-2017
Tom:
Leilanidude and PaulW do have a point. There are more people concentrated along the shoreline. I don't actually have a strong opinion as to whether more or less people would complain but somebody definitely would. Would it be possible for the helicopter tour industry to fly routes that greatly reduced the number of people that had helicopters fly over? Yes but that comes with costs, some of which would be very onerous for the companies involved. Does that matter? Well, yes if you want people to be able to make a living. Some people contend that the TMT should find someplace else to do business. I think they are full of crap. I am biased with regard to aviation since I am a pilot. I think that a good many of those complaining about helicopter noise are full of crap. Not all of them but human nature being what it is a good many of them are.
I have flown over my own place in Eden Roc several times. It is along a natural path to follow if you head straight south from Hilo along the highway then cut across towards the volcano. I hear helicopters overhead all the time at my place. Very rarely, they bother me. I have called the police to find out what was going on when helicopters were orbiting at treetop height around the subdivision (not that they gave me much satisfaction). Having a helicopter "targeting" your immediate area is really unnerving. Helicopters passing by overhead at 1500'? A totally different thing.
RE: Helicopter Offshore Petition - terracore - 06-25-2017
“We found that rapid changes in noise resulted in rapid disturbance to the normal rhythm of participants’ hearts,” said researcher Dr Eiman Kanjo of Nottingham Trent’s School of Science and Technology.
“If this pattern is repeated regularly then there is a danger it might lead to cardiovascular problems.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2017/06/24/noisy-cities-disrupt-heartbeat-could-trigger-disease-study-suggests/
The above article is not specifically about helicopter noise but it asks the question, is noise more than just a nuisance?
RE: Helicopter Offshore Petition - MarkD - 06-25-2017
It is both a major nuisance and can have stress/health implications, IMO. There is a strong case for completely banning helicopters from national parks or reserve areas such as the Grand Canyon and the Na Pali coast. Places where people hike to for purposes of enjoying nature. Same thing with off-road motorcycles and jet skis in such places.
The lava tour is over HVP. So the helicopters bother both people hiking to see the flow and homeowners between Hilo airport and the viewing area.
I’ll opine on another angle I am sure a lot of folks will slam me on: One of my anti-elitist viewpoints. Just googled Paradise Helicopters. Here are two prices:
Volcano and Waterfalls tour $249 per person
Extreme tour $299 per person
$249 is what many Puna people spend on food for several weeks. What extravagance.
IMO most people in Puna do not give a rip about the success of the helicopter business. In contrast to Hilo and especially Kona, Puna is heavily populated by voluntary simplicity folks. i.e., people who place a priority on living in a peaceful natural environment, often in an unpretentious dwelling. The lifestyle often includes small scale farming and other non-materialist pursuits. That is why we moved here.
If the big money people in Kona want helicopters flying over their mansions every day that is their kuleana. My sense is that many Puna people would be happy to see the business shut down completely in East Hawaii. JMO.
And this business of tax revenues from helicopters seems significantly exaggerated. The rich people who spend all that money on the flights? If the helicopter tours are not available, they will likely spend the money elsewhere. Like brunch at Mauna Kea Hotel.
RE: Helicopter Offshore Petition - leilanidude - 06-25-2017
It isn't rich elitists that take helicopter tours. Regular people, who have saved up for their vacation, are the norm.
They employ receptionists, cleaning folks, re-fuelers, pilots, mechanics... of which, for those companies based out of Hilo, most probably live in the area. Could be your neighbor, if you lived here.
RE: Helicopter Offshore Petition - leilanidude - 06-25-2017
It is both a major nuisance and can have stress/health implications, IMO
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As can roosters, dogs, motorcycles, generators... I am just glad that for the most part, the helicopters only operate during daytime,(emergencies notwithstanding) unlike the four others I just mentioned.
RE: Helicopter Offshore Petition - leilanidude - 06-25-2017
And you know.. that old argument of jobs is just so tiring.. it is a tried and true standard-bearer of the republican party and at this point in time is just sickening anymore. Especially when it is used to excess and without any sincerity what-so-ever as the regular posters use it here on PW.
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Hilarious. The argument of jobs in the poorest area of the state, is "tiring" to you? You must be one of those with no job as you were adamant about wanting UBI (universal basic income). I bet you don't want the TMT, either? Why would anyone want a good job?
RE: Helicopter Offshore Petition - PaulW - 06-25-2017
You're saying there are no jobs at the helicopter tours?? All those people are volunteers? No, not true.
They all get paid and they all pay tax.
Still waiting to hear about where I have to go to hear helicopters all day every day.
By the way, do they even fly over VNP?