Letters

I would like to respond to a recent letter to editor from Terry Carnes [“Don’t Chase Them Away,” Letters, February 13].

I live in Northville, which is over 20 miles away from East Hampton Airport (HTO), and where over 95 percent of helicopters and seaplanes transition to arrive to HTO. Mr. Carnes may not know that the Federal Aviation Administration held a workshop in Riverhead on a late October night in 2018. That workshop was called a “dog-and-pony show” by the Riverhead Town supervisor. It was a cold and windy night, and over 140 people came to speak and give written comments to the FAA.

Two weeks later, the Riverhead Town Council had a press conference with State Senator Ken LaValle, Assemblyman Fred Thiele, a representative from U.S. Representative Lee Zeldin’s office, Steve Bellone’s office, and Southampton Town officials, and many others, to say what a pathetic presentation the FAA had at this workshop dealing with the North Shore route to HTO.

Move ahead one year, and the Riverhead supervisor was able to get Jeff Smith from Eastern Region Helicopter Council to come to a Q&A. Town Hall was standing room only for this event, and every person who spoke that night was asking for a quality of life back that they had not seen nor heard for over 10 years, as business at HTO has grown year after year.

I’m not sure where you came up with the 100 people in your letter, but you are dead wrong. Both these meetings were held in the offseason and at night; they were held over 20 miles away from HTO.

The writer really needs to take a chair and sit underneath the flight path to HTO. May I suggest a Thursday, Friday or Sunday afternoon during prime time, and look at the map and see how many thousands of people’s lives below are being disrupted by helicopters and seaplanes arriving at HTO.

John Cullen

Northville