UPDATE: Jan. 23, 10:15 a.m.: An FAA spokeswoman said the agency had briefed elected officials from northeast Queens on departure procedures from LaGuardia Airport from Runway 13.
The FAA plans on attending a community meeting to discuss the procedures, but no date has been set at this time.
Northeast Queens elected officials said they would continue to fight a noisy flight pattern over Bayside and Douglaston following a meeting with the Federal Aviation Administration last week.
State Sen. Tony Avella, D-Bayside, state Assemblyman Edward Braunstein, D-Bayside, U.S. Rep. Grace Meng, D-Flushing, and a representative from U.S. Rep. Steve Israel’s, D-Melville, met with the FAA on Friday to discuss the flight pattern out of LaGuardia Airport.
In a joint statement, they said they would call on the FAA to listen to the voices of the communities affected by the route.
“We took a step forward in addressing the significant quality of life issue that was created by the FAA’s new flight procedures at LaGuardia Airport, which have resulted in extreme increases in aircraft noise in northeast Queens,” the statement read. “We will continue to fight for an open process that involves additional options and put pressure on the FAA to pursue those alternatives, which include vital community feedback.”
A spokesman for Avella said no further details about the meeting with the FAA would be disclosed at this time. It was unclear whether the FAA intended to continue with the flight pattern.
Early last summer, northeast Queens residents began complaining about continuous noise from low-flying planes over the community.
Elected officials said the FAA had told them there would be a comment period for residents, but that it never occurred. In late 2012, they said it appeared that the flight pattern had been made permanent.
Avella, Braunstein and Meng held a protest of the flight pattern in Bayside in December.
