Air Noise Town Hall with State Reps

A Letter From Congressman Ed Case:

Aloha, Friend. I write to ask for your assistance with our shared  deep concerns over accelerating safety and community disruption  consequences of virtually unregulated Hawai'i tour helicopter and small  aircraft operations.

The  Hawaii Air Noise and Safety Task Force has scheduled two Virtual Public  Meetings for Tuesday, September 22nd, 10:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. and  Thursday, September 24th, 10:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. (further info and  links below). It  is critical that you attend these meetings and voice your concerns  directly and personally if you can because otherwise the tour  helicopter/small aircraft industry will likely downplay our concerns and  nothing will change when operations restart.

The  Hawaii Air Noise and Safety Task Force was established this January  with the stated goal of addressing safety, noise and other issues  related to helicopter and fixed-wing aerial tours. Although it correctly  includes government members, its membership is primarily the tour  helicopter/small aircraft operators.

I  would sincerely like to believe that the Task Force takes our concerns  very seriously and is truly committed to change, but given my experience  to date with the industry I am very skeptical. However, any opportunity  to participate in a public discussion should be welcomed, including  this one which is the first time recently the industry has agreed to do  so.

I  am very concerned, though, that in these first meetings the Task Force  wants to confine the discussion solely to the specific areas of Pearl  City and Kailua. Clearly  our safety and community disruption concerns are statewide and include  many communities with concerns at least equal to those two  seriously-impacted neighborhoods. I fear that this is a conscious  divide-and-conquer strategy with the intent of keeping individual  communities separate and then arguing that the concerns voiced are not  major.

I voiced these and many other concerns and unanswered questions to the Task Force in my August 14th letter and received an August 28th reply (both attached). Although the Task Force stated these were just the first two of more community meetings statewide, we should all attend them and voice our concerns regardless of whether we do or don't live in Pearl City or Kailua.

If you can attend the virtual forum personally, you can connect via the following information:

Tuesday September 22nd: 

Pearl City, Oahu Focus 10:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. (Hawaii Time) September 22, 2020

• Zoom Link: https://zoom.us/j/93380587856?pwd=aFJ1aWxmMzhmdm5aTE5qd2RRNEQwQT09
• Passcode: 418100 
• iPhone one-tap : US: +12532158782,,93380587856#,,,,,,0#,,418100# or +13462487799,,93380587856#,,,,,,0#,,418100#
• Telephone  numbers: +1 253 215 8782 or +1 346 248 7799 or +1 408 638 0968 or +1  669 900 6833 or +1 312 626 6799 or +1 646 876 9923 or +1 301 715 8592
• Webinar ID: 933 8058 7856 
• Passcode: 418100 
• International numbers available: https://zoom.us/u/acSOllvpZv

You can sign up to testify at this link: http://hanstf.org/index.php/public-meetings/. Whether or not you can testify personally, please submit your comments through the same link. They need not be lengthy as what is more important is that members of our community register our concerns.

On  a related but separate note, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)  has recently updated its website to include a portal for submitting  noise complaints: https://noise.faa.gov/. Our FAA region has also asked me to direct you to work on noise at https://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/arc/western_pacific/noise_complaint/.

So  that we can distribute this notice as broadly as possible and maximize  participation and the voices opposed to tour helicopter/small aircraft  safety risks and community disruption, please forward this email to your contact lists now.

Mahalo for all of your efforts to make our communities safer and more liveable. Please let me know if you have any questions.

With aloha, 

Congressman Ed Case (Hawai'i-First District)

Upcoming Meeting 9/24: 

Kailua, Oahu Focus 10:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. (Hawaii Time) September 24, 2020

• Zoom link: https://zoom.us/j/93829641492?pwd=bXNIN21ESGQrQ0ZXOC9BOXVUbWVBdz09Passcode: 077533 
• iPhone one-tap : US: +12532158782,,93829641492#,,,,,,0#,,077533# or +13462487799,,93829641492#,,,,,,0#,,077533#
• Telephone  numbers: +1 253 215 8782 or +1 346 248 7799 or +1 408 638 0968 or +1  669 900 6833 or +1 301 715 8592 or +1 312 626 6799 or +1 646 876 9923Webinar ID: 938 2964 1492 Passcode: 077533 
• International numbers available: https://zoom.us/u/aBuUUXPPI