I read in today's daily paper that the air ambulance company, Airlift Northwest, is going through some changes relative to safety which prompts me to express my concerns about another issue; the noise levels produced by their aircraft as they fly over or near West Seattle.
One can easily hear Airlift Northwest flights several miles away as they travel in a northeasterly direction, parallel to Alki Avenue towards downtown Seattle. Following several months of hearing their noisy helicopters on a daily basis, including a couple of window rattling 4 a.m. flights directly over our house, I phoned Airlift Northwest. The person who answered their phone denied that their flights travel near West Seattle, that they are not painted red and white but are black and white. Looking at their Website, I saw red and white helicopters and a recent news article shows red and white helicopters. Rather disturbing is their denial of their obvious flight patterns and the deceptive response their personnel provided when I described their aircraft.
A call last month to the Federal Aviation Administration, produced a friendly individual who promised to contact Airlift Northwest about their flight patterns, he said they should not be flying over residential areas and supposedly air flights are to maintain a certain minimum altitude, but apparently that is not enforced.
While we can all appreciate the service these air ambulances provide to our communities, it seems that Airlift Northwest needs to be aware of the noise levels they create and take appropriate steps to eliminate this issue. Perhaps, their new replacement helicopters are designed to provide a quieter flight, but from what I understand; it is the high speed of the aircraft and their rotor blades that contribute to this high level of noise and that may not be resolved. Changing their flight patterns would help a lot. As a side note they have had two crashes already over water, not the best track record, hopefully Airlift Northwest avoids travel over our residential areas whenever possible.
If any of your readers have similar complaints, I suggest contacting the local Federal Aviation Administration, Noise Hotline, 1.425.227.1389, perhaps they can assist.
Daniel L. Ciske
Alki
