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Believe it or not, the big Blue Hawaiian choppers do have sound dampening; I think the FAA called it silent running or similar, which is of course hilarious. I've noticed when those choppers go overhead (when they're using that technique), they are somewhat quieter directly above. However, those same choppers with that same technology applied actually sound louder as they approach/depart the airspace above my head. Probably some weird physics off the side of the aircraft (versus straight down below it) that I don't know much about. Sound traveling, bending, etc... much like the doppler affect, I bet.
Anyhooz. That's about the most interesting thing about those damn things, IMHO.
-- rainshadow
-- rainshadow
The tactic of flying narrow corridors, sparing the majority and torturing the minority seems to be working.
Complain long and hard enough and you then become a "complainer" and labeled "sensitive".
The attitude that it will "never change" is nothing more than apathy.
Granted, it is an uphill battle in the most extreme sense but if enough people got together, at least some changes could be possible.
These tours are nothing more than a business. No business has the right to impact residents at the level that they do on a daily basis.
You have more of a chance of being prosecuted for barking dogs, leaf blowers and loud stereos than you do flying these lawn mowers from hell. Follow the money.
Given that the FAA refers responsibility of aircraft noise issues to local government suggests that the State (DOT) is the regulatory agency in this regard (See DOH noise manual). The fact that there is a complaint hotline that is administered by the DOT, airports div. indicates to me anyway, that the State is in fact liable. 1-888-697-7813.
Whether or not they do anything is another issue.
Further, in 1995, the DOT contracted with Dr. Panos Prevodourus to conduct a study on this very topic. Sorry I don't have a link but I can e-mail a .pdf for any interested. In his study, which included a questionnaire, he found that flights approaching 10/day was annoying and became extremely annoying approaching 20/day.
Perhaps it is time people demanded another study. Yes, nothing will change - silence means consent.
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First of all you have to understand that this is the biggest thrill ride in Hawaii. My wife and I did the volcano tour with Blue Hawaiian 16 years ago and it is an amazing experience seeing the eruption from the air. It's a bucket list thrill for many people.
With that said, living under the flight path is quite a different experience. Sometimes they fly so low it literally shakes our house and we are directly under their flight path. There are so many aircraft I worry about any of them having mechanical trouble and hard landing or worse.
What bothers me even more than the noise though, and nobody ever brings this up, is the complete invasion of privacy by aerial filming and photography. We still have our video we received of our flight when we went 16 years ago. Hawaiian has four video cameras on each aircraft that film each flight to sell to the passengers. The tourists flying of course all have their cameras clicking away right over our heads.
This amounts to scores of people per day invading your privacy filming your property and everything going on. Wife can't lay out naked by the pool, I can't bend over gardening while only wearing a thong (just kidding). This means no privacy on our own property when filmed from above in our own airspace. This might even be illegal and the angle to take for a class action law suit by all of us affected by these helicopters.
Blue Hawaiian advertises that they are "ultra quiet". Let's see them be quiet by taking the coastal route. That would be more scenic too than looking into our back yards (and thongs) and disturbing our peace! They wouldn't be allowed to fly over Steven Tyler's part time home on Maui according to the new bill signed.
There needs to be a compromise because these flights are good for our economy and tourism. The helicopter companies should respect their neighbors that live under their current flight path, it shouldn't take a lawsuit, or will it?
Aloha
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Would the new anti-paparatzi bill just passed apply to this photo/video issue?
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How about:
Make a helicopter terminal someplace at the end of the road or take a subdivision like black sands and buy the entire thing out ... If you had the terminal next to the volcano and bused the tourists out there to take their chopper ride that would be the best solution.
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This is a great idea! Possibly a law that could force this to happen, might be something along the lines of "Helicopters can only fly in a designated radius around volcano". Then the operators, not the subdivisions, would be forced to build their own terminal on the the land that they have to purchase, and set up the shuttles. But, since money rules, this probably wont happen, unfortunately! The helicoptor operators would also have to reduce the time in the air of trips and couldnt charge as much.
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It will always and forever be "about the money".
This implies that bus rides to a "nearby" helicopter port will inevitably happen, especially as buses are trivially modified for biofuel, aircraft not so much.
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quote:
Originally posted by SBH
Wife can't lay out naked by the pool, I can't bend over gardening while only wearing a thong (just kidding).
This is difficult to word properly. I am not saying that a helicopter overhead is not a privacy issue. However, the comments above are not factual. From several hundred feet no one can see your thong. They can't even determine whether you are naked or not. I know that your privacy is still compromised but comments such as these are not useful. They tend to alienate people such as myself.
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