Helicopter Noise Talk-Story With Onishi this Weds.

[Ino]

From Saturday's Herald-Tribune's calendar section;

Helicopter Noise Talk-Story With Richard Onishi this Weds.

Where;
Mountain View Elementary
1235 Volcano Highway
Mountain View

When; 6 pm Wednesday Sept.30th

Details; Let Onishi know how unbearable the helicopter noise is and ask him to help get relief. Free and open to the public.

Contact Bob Ernst or Darryl Soares 968-8611/294-9325, rce@isp.com

"The following is my position on this issue. How can we get helicopter pilots to follow the FAA's common procedure manual for air tours in this area? This is long at 169 pages ( and if anyone knows of a faster download or where this document is for purchase I would appreciate the information- Thank you);
http://tinyurl.com/mebxaz3

If the helicopters flew at 1500' over my house, I know that they wouldn't bother me at this altitude and I wouldn't be posting this. But unfortunately they routinely fly between 100-300' AGL or above ground level and sometimes even lower. I have complained to the FAA but so far they have denied me the right to file a formal complaint. All the Flight Inspectors are based on Oahu and have little knowledge of the situation here. I was able to at least get a response from the FAA only after I contacted Sen. Schatz

Meanwhile our Volcanoes National Park is undergoing continuous damage that the helicopter's noise brings to birds, wildlife and people. Volcanoes NP continues to cash the checks from the tour companies and claim that only the FAA can regulate yet they are under a mandate from a law passed by Congress in 2000 to protect our park from the noise that helicopters bring;
http://tinyurl.com/kfghksq

We went to the planning sessions required by law at HVNP in 2011 but nothing has changed.

I surveyed all the helicopter companies and only Paradise seemed to care. So if you must tour by helicopter Please go with them. Thank you for your consideration on this subject.

[kalakoa]

How can we get helicopter pilots to follow the FAA's common procedure manual for air tours in this area?

Pilots ignore the rules because FAA doesn't enforce.

our Volcanoes National Park is undergoing continuous damage that the helicopter's noise brings

Not recognized as part of County, so our complaints don't matter here.

only the FAA can regulate

See above: FAA doesn't regulate, for reasons that "people would like to know".

[mermaid53]

Thank you for the information. I've personally called the FAA many times about the tour helicopters. They would always ask what the weather conditions were, the color of the helicopter etc.

Our issue was them cutting across Kaloli Pt from the airport and back. I was told that they're supposed to be at least 1000 ft above but I've seen them flying a lot lower. At times it sounded like they were a lot lower but turned out they were at least 1000 ft high.

As soon as one tour helicopter passed, another one would follow a few minutes behind that one. It was so annoying and I called them often. I don't think I had anything to do with it but it seems the problem has diminished quite a bit. Maybe the tours have changed or they're not getting the same amount of business????

[Ino]

Yes, the tour routes do change. During the Lava flow event near Pahoa we could see so many helicopters going back and forth above HPP, it looked like pure Hell down there from our vantage point but the FAA Inspectors are very clear to me that only a very few people ever complain. At that time we got relief from he overflights and they were alot fewer helicopters flying the route over our house on the way to HVNP. But they're back now. We do get relief when the weather conditions are poor.

Last Fall we went to see Hilo the Musical at UHH Performing Arts and they had a funny skit about " Learn to love the Coquis" so we try to tolerate the noise but at times it can be very annoying and like you said when one leaves another one's on it's way from 7:30 am all the way till 4 pm there is a constant noise.

[MarkP]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Ino

From Saturday's Herald-Tribune's calendar section;

Helicopter Noise Talk-Story With Richard Onishi this Weds.

Where;
Mountain View Elementary
1235 Volcano Highway
Mountain View

When; 6 pm Wednesday Sept.30th

Details; Let Onishi know how unbearable the helicopter noise is and ask him to help get relief......

If the helicopters flew at 1500' over my house, I know that they wouldn't bother me at this altitude and I wouldn't be posting this. But unfortunately they routinely fly between 100-300' AGL or above ground level and sometimes even lower. I have complained to the FAA......

---

I know that helicopter noise is a real issue so I am not trying to dismiss it out of hand. Generally however I am unsympathetic. Part of it is my personal life experience as a pilot. When I was getting my glider rating in 1979 my instructor related an experience with a local farmer a couple of miles from the field who insisted that the gliders were passing between the barn and the silo, below the level of the silo. He could not be convinced otherwise. He had seen it with his own eyes. In case anyone is wondering, that is complete bull**** unless the farmer was also reporting a crashed glider. So now I am supposed to believe that the trees around Ino's place are such a unique tourist draw that tour helicopters routinely fly BETWEEN them.

[Ino]

The Ohia trees are not 100's of feet high at my place and I made no claim of helicopters flying between them! As a pilot I hope you are aware that there are rules and regulations about where one may fly. If you read the link I posted you will see a map that shows that at my house all aircraft are required to fly at the minimum of 1500' AGL this means above ground level over houses-no trees are that tall here. Determining the altitude of aircraft is not rocket science and the FAA knows that the aircraft here are not in compliance with the FAA's own rules.

All I ask is that pilots read the manual;
http://tinyurl.com/mebxaz3

and follow the rules!!

[shockwave rider]

quote:

---

Originally posted by MarkP

quote:

---

Originally posted by Ino

From Saturday's Herald-Tribune's calendar section;

Helicopter Noise Talk-Story With Richard Onishi this Weds.

Where;
Mountain View Elementary
1235 Volcano Highway
Mountain View

When; 6 pm Wednesday Sept.30th

Details; Let Onishi know how unbearable the helicopter noise is and ask him to help get relief......

If the helicopters flew at 1500' over my house, I know that they wouldn't bother me at this altitude and I wouldn't be posting this. But unfortunately they routinely fly between 100-300' AGL or above ground level and sometimes even lower. I have complained to the FAA......

---

I know that helicopter noise is a real issue so I am not trying to dismiss it out of hand. Generally however I am unsympathetic. Part of it is my personal life experience as a pilot. When I was getting my glider rating in 1979 my instructor related an experience with a local farmer a couple of miles from the field who insisted that the gliders were passing between the barn and the silo, below the level of the silo. He could not be convinced otherwise. He had seen it with his own eyes. In case anyone is wondering, that is complete bull**** unless the farmer was also reporting a crashed glider. So now I am supposed to believe that the trees around Ino's place are such a unique tourist draw that tour helicopters routinely fly BETWEEN them.

---

Looking back at this thread it would seem that MarkP is "Making stuff up" and then trying to claim other people are saying things they did not.

I hate the helicopters, during the Pahoa lava flow they were constantly going over our house and it meant that night workers in our household could not sleep during the day, our dogs were nervous wrecks, and at times it was so loud you could not do business by phone. But since MarkP. heard one anecdotal story from a biased source (flight instructor who made money from the industry) the rest of us must be liars. In fact he even made up claims and ascribed them to Ino, just to back up his position.

Glad to know he has such factually solid reasons to be "unsympathetic" to the people who have to put up with the noise and lack of privacy that lets a handful of pilots and their bosses make a bunch of money at the cost of our health and well being.

[kalakoa]

a handful of pilots and their bosses make a bunch of money at the cost of our health and well being

Never forget that Puna is a resource to be exploited: PGV, homeless camps, unpaved "private" subdivisions, and helicopter joyrides.

Just think of all the taxes those tourists pay ... of which Puna never sees a dime.

[pahoated]

quote:

---

Originally posted by kalakoa
Just think of all the taxes those tourists pay ... of which Puna never sees a dime.

---

Puna and its volcanoes better viewed at a distance? Actually, with Puna having the highest percentage of low income to poverty level, quite a few tax dollars pump into the district, for multiple assistance programs. The area also tends to attract more tourists that are trying to freeload as much as possible, not much tourist spending beyond vacation rentals and restaurants. Considering tourism is the number one source of income, if the amount of taxes collected were distributed in proportion to the areas they were collected, Kona would be getting 80%.

"Aloha also means goodbye. Aloha!"

[PunaMauka2]

In my observational mood can't help but notice shockwave rider has a habit of overreacting to and overstating the transgressions of others (might as well mention overkill on the reply with quote feature too).