Times Ledger: An unwelcome blast from airports

From the Times Ledger:

By Maria Becce

Sharon Pinkerton (“Keep noise down, efficiency up at Queens airports,” March 4) says, “NextGen reduces noise overall.” Doesn’t that sound wonderful?

Tragically, this is not true if you happen to live under a NextGen flight pattern. If so, expect your life to be turned upside down, without warning, without notification to elected officials, without public hearings, and without environmental studies.

Ms. Pinkerton, do you know what it’s like to be blasted out of bed and your home that’s listed on the National and New York State Register of Historic Places, when it shakes and vibrates every 30 seconds for hours by planes departing LaGuardia Airport? Do you like being outdoors, breathing fresh air, holding a conversation or watching television in your home? That disappears if you live under a NextGen flight pattern.

Ms. Pinkerton, you should re-assess your position as chief cheerleader for Airlines for America until you spend time in my neighborhood. Your time is better spent acknowledging that excessive airplane noise is detrimental to your health.

Why isn’t your organization encouraging airlines to refit planes with new jet engines developed by Pratt & Whitney, GEAviation and others? Why does the airline industry get a free pass when it comes to greenhouse-gas emissions? Why does it take a lifetime for the airline industry to catch up to new technological advances in jet engine and airplane design?

In the meantime, stop saying that NextGen reduces noise overall—you are insulting everyone coping with excessive airplane noise.