Re-route Requested

Dear Editor:

There used to be a time when Rockaway residents could phone the FAA right here at JFK and get true real time responses to questions emanating from heavy airplane traffic crossing our peninsula departing out of JFK. Those phoning the FAA didn’t have to be politicians to effect change. For quite a while, planes flying west out of JFK above Jamaica Bay have been turning south traversing our peninsula at Beach 128th Street. Please understand this route is particularly disturbing for a few reasons: First, we’ve already had a devastating air crash on this path killing everyone on the plane and five residents on the ground. Is it fair to put those locals surviving that crash through the traumatic possibility of replication? Secondly, this route passes directly above St. Francis de Sales Church which could be holding a funeral, school classes or Mass during a future crash. Thirdly, why use Beach 128-129th Streets as corridors when traversing the peninsula at Riis Park where there are no residents, would not threaten any of our citizens?

In a phone call to the FAA years ago, I was told the fuel savings in the Beach 128-129 crossing was the reason for the route. So, it’s the fuel that is being saved, not the people. It’s high time our politicians fought for their constituents. Taxpayers have saved the airline industry time and again. And how do they pay us back? They hike prices, subject passengers to a litany of nuisance fees and reduce services forgetting it was our tax dollars that extracted them from bankruptcy. Add our pay back to their route selection and you get this disgraceful, unforgivable scenario.

Whether it’s here in Rockaway or near some other airports across the country, when there is the possibility of plane routes involving flying over-populated areas versus flying a few more miles to take residents out of harm’s way, the response must be crystal clear: planes must re-route for public safety. Please, begin the re-routing ASAP right here in Rockaway.

Joan Mettler