Aviation groups are warning that proposed operating restrictions at East Hampton Airport (HTO) in New York raise legal issues and pose a threat to the national air transportation system. The airport has become a hotbed of noise complaints since the FAA imposed mandatory helicopter routes over Long Island, concentrating some activity at HTO.

According to industry groups, the town reportedly has received 25,000 noise complaints from 633 households, though some question whether a few households constitute the bulk of the complaints. Jeff Smith, chairman of the Eastern Region Helicopter Council, testified during a March 12 hearing in East Hampton on the proposed restrictions that one household alone was responsible for 2,000 of those complaints.

Lawmakers have pushed the FAA to alter the routes at concentration points. But the proposed restrictions would go much further, seeking a nighttime ban on all traffic between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m.), an extended curfew on “noisy aircraft” from 8 p.m. to 9 a.m., a ban on helicopters on weekends and summer limits on noisy aircraft to one trip per week.

On March 12, AOPA, NATA and NBAA sent a joint letter notifying the town that such restrictions could violate grant agreements. The associations acknowledged the FAA has indicated a willingness to waive enforcement but questioned whether the agency can legally do so. They also noted that such operational restrictions ”present a threat to the national air transportation system that transcends local communities."

The restrictions, Smith told the town in his testimony, “are not only drastic, but are detrimental to an entire community.” The ban would harm the community economically, causing the layoffs of some area pilots and possibility threatening the viability of the airport.

However, the restrictions have political support. House aviation subcommittee vice chair Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.) urged FAA Administrator Michael Huerta in a March 2 letter to stand by earlier promises that the agency will not enforce certain grant assurances, clearing the town to adopt the noise restrictions. 

The town could take action on the proposed restrictions on March 19.