Friday, May 15, 2015

In PMFA's Mailbox: Have You Noticed An Uptick In Airplane Noise Over Carroll Gardens?

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A few days ago, I was sitting in my kitchen early in the morning with the windows wide open here in Carroll Gardens, when a huge airplane flew immediately over my house.  The walls shook and the noise was amazingly loud.  The plane was so low that I was able to identify the airline logo on the machine. A few minutes later, it happened again. And then again.  It went on till the afternoon.  The next day, the same thing happened.  It seemed the loaded this past Sunday.
Shortly afterwards, a neighborhood friend mentioned that she thought the flight patterns had been changed and planes were now flying right over Carroll Gardens.

And yesterday, a reader sent me this message:

"Hello, Katia.
Have you and your readers noticed a huge uptick in airplane flyover noise? I moved to this neighborhood because it was quieter in that regard than most other Brooklyn neighborhoods, but that seems to have suddenly changed as the landing routes to LGA are now overhead, with planes as frequently as every other minute because of the New Generation GPS. (Communities were told this technology would lessen aircraft noise, but of course that was a lie.) I don't know why exactly landing patterns changed recently, do you?
Those affected should file a complaint (it's very easy) at either: http://www.planenoise.com/panynj/daPRAbr9/ or 1-800-225-1071.
(you can (and should) complain every time it disturbs you)It is important that the neighborhood react swiftly and loudly to the new disturbance. This is a big issue that can affect health and property values, and the PANJNY and FAA need to hear from residents."

Of course, we have always heard airplane noise here in the neighborhood, but not like in the past week. Have you noticed?



22 comments:

Anonymous said...

I noticed the noise also, but there were dense fog advisories last week, especially on Saturday and Sunday mornings. This might have been the reason the planes were flying so low. I haven't noticed any significant jet noise in the last few days.

Anonymous said...

I haven't noticed the airplanes at all, but one thing I've noticed lately is that most of the trash bins on the street corners on Smith and Court are gone! Does anyone know what happened? It's become very difficult to find a bin when I am walking my dog.

Anonymous said...

Planes were flying VERY low on Sunday afternoon, have not noticed since, but I'm not at home during the week. The noise did not seem different.

As for trash bins, I spotted new bins (a trio, one for trash and two for recycling) at the corner of Union and Court today. Maybe the missing bins are just being replaced?

Anonymous said...

This landing pattern used to only happen rarely in bad weather, but since last week it has been every day and most evenings, regardless of weather. I saw those same planes you did, Katia: I read the name on one, and the tails of the others.
Bookmarked the link.

Anonymous said...

I believe they're actually JFK bound. They bring in a lot of heavies out here and make a hard right to bring them in on the east side of the field depending on the ceiling. This has gone on for years... a lot of times the humidity of the air encourages the sound to travel farther. That accentuates things.

Anonymous said...

Excessive low flying airplane noise has very severe since the FAA changed flight path and implemented next Gen (GPS) technology in the last few years. FAA did so using a legal loophole “Categorial Exclusion” without conducting proper environmental studies, and with zero public input and hearing. Chuck Schumer was the only democrat that gave FAA free pass to use Brooklyn as a runway. This past year has been much worse. It’s all over Brooklyn and Queens. Dumbo, Park Slope, Forte Greene, Clinton Hill, Bed Stuy, Forte Hamilton, Kensington, Sunset Park, Bay Ridge, East Williamsburg, Dykers Heights….among others have been crop dusted by these constant low flying planes. Brooklynites should wake up and tell their representative in City Council, and Senate and Congress to correct this. FAA is doing so to boost the airline industry’s profit, at the expense of our health and quality of life!!

Anonymous said...

They are supposed to be over the Gowanus Canal. Not Carroll Gardens. Not Park Slope. When this happened a few years ago I contacted Ed Towns' chief of staff who had been really effective on another issue. She had been working with the FAA to keep the flight path away from the dense residential neighborhoods. The next day they were gone. Bad weather can impact the path.

I kept voting for him because he was smart enough to hire her.

Andrew said...

Well if they don't fly over Carroll Gardens they will probably have to fly over some other neighborhood and affect property values there. I don't see why Carroll Gardens should be spared some airplane noise at the expense of others.

Neighbor said...

The reason is temporary runway construction at JFK. Normally low visibility approaches (less then 1/2 mile) are conducted approaching JFK from the NE (Runway 22L) or from the SW (Runway 04R). The parallel runway, 22R/4L, is closed through September for resurfacing/widening and safety enhancements. The resulting construction will cause intermittent restrictions on low visibility landings on 04R/22L.

So, for the next few months when the visibility is low, JFK's only option is to use the ILS approach to Runway 13L which comes over Brooklyn.
There's been sea fog causing issues during the morning/evening for the last couple weeks, but that will pass and I would imagine it will be a rare occurrence.

In the long term, it will be extremely rare too see this configuration. It's NY Air Traffic Control's least preferred setup as it causes significant issues with LGA airspace and resulting problems over at the Teterboro airport. It requires both high winds from the SE and low visibility to force this setup. In almost 10 years of flying out of JFK, I've only flown the ILS 13L twice.

Now, if only we could do something about the noise from the low flying helicopters headed for Wall Street. :)

Sent from my iPad

Katia said...

Respect! Either a lot of pilots or air traffic controllers are reading PMFA, or you people are really smart and informed.

Anonymous said...

@ Neighbor, thanks for the insight. Seems like they'd be banking hard if they were trying to land from the NE at JFK? Do you have a link where I can learn more?

Given what some other commenters have said, seems like this is something we should remain vigilant about anyway.

Re the helicopters, looks like you can use that link to complain about them.

Anonymous said...

The recycling bins were moved. Too far from subway entrance near the Gowanus Yacht Club they Re on the other curb. People passing on way to subway is better place. Tons of plastic still in garbage cans.

Eric Hancock said...

I think "Neighbor" has the correct answer: a combination of runway changes and low visibility.

I also agree that the helicopters (often NYPD helicopters) are quite annoying.

Anonymous said...

I originally posted about the trash bins, but I realize now they were replaced with new bins that match the recycling bins. Glad they aren't gone!

Anonymous said...

A lot of low flying loud heavy jets flying overhead tonight. I am hearing about 1 every few minutes from my Degraw st. Apartment. Can't sleep.

Anonymous said...

Here's a link to the construction project at JFK

https://www.panynj.gov/airports/jfk-reconstruction.html

@Anonymous: When you land from the NE at JFK (Rwy 22L/R) they route the aircraft East of JFK and they join the final approach about 10-15 miles NE of JFK.

Here's a link to the JFK airport diagram:

http://155.178.201.160/d-tpp/1505/00610AD.PDF

Anonymous said...

There were a couple of low-flyers early this morning (Tuesday) in very dense fog. Haven't heard anything else all day. Sleep well now.

Anonymous said...

Hi Katia, it's been a while since I have commented on your blog - I moved to Jackson Heights, where plane noise is a common topic on our neighborhood site Jackson Heights Life.

You are not dreaming - the flight patterns have changed. And planes are flying over Carroll Gardens that were not before.

Sunday representatives from Queens Quiet Skies were at our JH farmers market collecting signatures and distributing folders with information about plane noise.

Here, their slides explaining why noise increased: http://queensquietskies.org/a-primer-on-airplane-noise-in-new-york-city/

They also posted this number that anyone could call to complain: (800) 225-1071

It's as going to PA's site on this link: http://www.planenoise.com/panynj/daPRAbr9/qs114wbt.php

On this link you can track flight paths over the neighborhood, noise levels in one meter in Your area and see planned runway closures: http://webtrak5.bksv.com/panynj

Crazy!

Anyway, love popping into your blog to see how my favorite neighborhood is doing.

Best, Sally

Katia said...

Thanks for all the information, Sally. All very useful for those of us who have noticed the extra noise over our houses.

Anonymous said...

Sally, thanks very much for the helpful links, especially the webtrak5. I can accurately report to the PANYNJ exactly which plane blasted me awake at 5:45 am this morning.

Anonymous said...

The planes that are going over Clinton Hill/Bed-stuy area are way above the 65db, they go up to 75db!!! It sounds awful and it shakes our building even because of the sonic boom effect. it goes by every 2 minutes or so. I don't understand how this could go on in Brooklyn. What is the cause of these low flying planes and when will it stop? I don't remember it being like this last year. Not only the sound is awful and unbearable, can you imagine all the pollution the planes are causing and dumping it on top of us to breathe.

Anonymous said...

A lot of low flying loud heavy jets flying overhead tonight. thanks.