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Esther is concerned about the helicopter noise? Has she ever been on a street on this island? The noise from the modified racer cars, trucks, muscle cars, motorcycles, mopeds, etc is many many times louder than any tour helicopter. I actually own a decibel meter and have measured the noise helicopters make when flying overhead at my house. They might clock in at 60-65 decibels tops and that is only if they are flying lower than they normally do. A Harley with a modified straight pipe would clock in at over 110 decibels (at ~100 feet). And based on the logarithmic decibel scale, this is over 10,000 times louder than the tour helicopters. There are noise laws in place to penalize these noise offenders but our government does nothing to enforce the law.
At least helicopter tours provide a service to tourists and locals alike and only fly during the day... so people can sleep at night. As long as the city continues to do absolutely nothing to address the 24/7 madness of noise on our streets (which negatively impacts far more people on this island than the tour helicopters), I'd be a bit annoyed if any politician or group of individuals successfully prevents these helicopters from operating their business exactly how they are today.
There was a guy who drove by like clockwork every Friday night into Saturday and Saturday night into Sunday around 2-3am. I liked to sleep with my lanai door open, but the noise from this jerk was so loud that it never failed to jolt me awake.
I've had construction and medical helicopters fly near my condo with some regularity at times. The noise wasn't something that bothered me too much. This is just my perspective, of course, and I can't speak for those who have to deal with it every day, but it isn't something that I think would bother me too much. Certainly not enough to provide statements to the press.
On some of the points made during this threads, I see whtviper1's point and I also see Tulemutt's point. Some of the people complaining sound like those who are up in arms because Waikiki nightlife is too loud, which I think is a ridiculous complaint to make while living in a tourist area. On the other hand, there is something to be said about those who were in a certain area pre-some of what we're seeing now; it's not like they asked for the changes/new flight paths/plans, etc. But, alas, I guess that's "progress"
In general, I believe these sort of articles are often the result of a very small number of people who just want to complain about something.
Which are practically all Civil Beat articles which rarely make actual news. This helicopter story is overly sensationalized and doesn't reflect reality on Oahu. A real story would be the flight paths over Ewa - which in my opinion are not necessary and could be modified - and impact far more people.
Although - I will give them credit for the Red Hill fuel video uncovered recently.
There was a guy who drove by like clockwork every Friday night into Saturday and Saturday night into Sunday around 2-3am. I liked to sleep with my lanai door open, but the noise from this jerk was so loud that it never failed to jolt me awake.
We had a guy just like this who went by about 2:30 am every weekend on a loud dirt bike, waking the whole street. We assumed he worked at a Kaanapali nightclub that closed at 2am.
I started shutting my windows and using the A/C on the weekends even when it was cool out because of this guy. At our pool, recently, someone mentioned that they hadn't heard him lately. Another neighbor informed us that the guy had been killed in an accident.
We had a guy just like this who went by about 2:30 am every weekend on a loud dirt bike, waking the whole street. We assumed he worked at a Kaanapali nightclub that closed at 2am.
I started shutting my windows and using the A/C on the weekends even when it was cool out because of this guy. At our pool, recently, someone mentioned that they hadn't heard him lately. Another neighbor informed us that the guy had been killed in an accident.
Sorry, but also not sorry.
Accident? That was no accident!
Guys, and it's always guys, with extra loud cycles or cars are either extremely dense or complete A-holes by intention, IMO.
With regards to helicopter noise, back in the 90's here in JNU it became an issue with the huge growth in tourism. There were enough complaints that the helicopter companies voluntarily took action to mitigate their impacts.
Guys, and it's always guys, with extra loud cycles or cars are either extremely dense or complete A-holes by intention, IMO.
With regards to helicopter noise, back in the 90's here in JNU it became an issue with the huge growth in tourism. There were enough complaints that the helicopter companies voluntarily took action to mitigate their impacts.
I remember that. They chose voluntary co-existence to fend off potential regulation. I honestly didn't think the helicopter noise in JNU was that bad even before they chose to self-mitigate. The ones here were a lot worse before COVID made the flights self-limiting.
The one time that the helicopters and flight tour noise "got to me" in Alaska was when I was staying at the Petersen Lake Cabin. I felt like I hiked to the middle of nowhere to enjoy nothing but nature and was buzzed with aircraft noise all day long.
If I recall correctly one of the things they did to mitigate noise pollution was using multiple flight corridors chosen so that nobody had to be directly underneath the flight path all day long.
One of the tour companies here issued a press release that to help with the noise, they would stop flying on Sundays for the rest of the tour season. I checked the cruise ship schedule, and there were no cruise ships scheduled on Sundays during the dates they graciously offered to give the residents a break. What a disingenuous olive branch. They weren't going to fly on those dates anyway, so why the bogus press release saying it was because they were doing their part?
I remember that. They chose voluntary co-existence to fend off potential regulation. I honestly didn't think the helicopter noise in JNU was that bad even before they chose to self-mitigate. The ones here were a lot worse before COVID made the flights self-limiting.
The one time that the helicopters and flight tour noise "got to me" in Alaska was when I was staying at the Petersen Lake Cabin. I felt like I hiked to the middle of nowhere to enjoy nothing but nature and was buzzed with aircraft noise all day long.?
That seems like an odd route to take for a tour helicopter. Perhaps a long approach of the ice field?
We've only stayed at the cabin once and didn't notice any helicopters. At Eagle glacier I remember seeing a couple quite far in the distance.
We moved away from the Bay area (which we had loved) because of having crime helicopters flying overhead all too often. (and also, the constant sound of power tools all around us as people continually remodeled their homes. The tile cutters were the worst).
So we voted with our feet and moved to a quiet place far away.
Much happier waking up with birdsong in the morning and lulled to sleep by crickets at night.
I actually take back what I said earlier in this thread about the tour copters. There are homes, parks and beaches along Diamond Head that get raked by low flying tour copters; they fly right up along the shoreline and are incredibly loud. I didn't realize this until spending time there recently. They fly so close you can make out how many fingers the tourists are holding up. It's absolutely bonkers that these pilots do this without a care. That's some seriously selfish arrogant behavior.
It's not all the pilots that fly this way. Many are respectful and fly off shore enough where they are heard but it's tolerable for those enjoying the beach. But there are some really bad apples that are ruining it for the tour copter industry How hard is it for them to stay off shore like some of their fellow pilots? Is it to get better tips from the tourists or something? You can actually see how close they fly using this app called Flight Radar 24. It gives all the details on the owner of the helicopter, real time and past history tracking of every helicopter that gets in the air. I always thought they are supposed to stay 1500 ft up and away from any parks, homes, etc (vertical and horizontal). They are more like 400 feet vertical in the air and 400 horizontal from the shoreline. I'd get behind any legislation that bans tour copters altogether if the pilots can't be respectful. I believe this tracking technology being so available to the general public now will assist in finally getting some legislation passed. Because it shows exactly who the bad actors are and memorializes their actions.
And fully agree with the last poster... Noise IS pollution.
Last edited by pj737; 04-18-2023 at 01:29 AM..
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