Political Quotes

“I consistently hear a great deal from my constituents about pervasive, intrusive helicopter noise. I have carefully listened to them for years, through community forums, townhalls, letters, emails, phone calls, and the like. I have also worked with both the FAA and the Department of Defense on possible solutions. We certainly have a difficult balance to strike in the National Capital Region, but people shouldn't have to live under the constant thunder of helicopter noise. Helicopter noise, by all accounts, has gotten significantly worse year after year after year. Even those who are neighbors with the Pentagon have noticed it has gotten much worse. {time} 1530 Last year, I had an amendment to the NDAA for the Department of Defense to conduct a study on mitigating the helicopter noise. We had excellent conversations. Colonels and majors came out from the Air Force, the Army, the Marines, and the FAA came out. We had big townhall meetings. In those conversations, we moved forward with a now completed DOD noise study. The Department of Defense has repeatedly informed me that they follow the FAA helicopter maps perfectly and that they fly at the required minimum altitudes. So as a solution, my amendment would require the FAA to simply review all the helicopter flight paths in the national capital region, including those used solely by the Department of Defense, to assess whether some of these helicopter trips could be safely flown at a higher altitude.…”