Local helicopter tours spark debate after influx of noise complaints

 

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- Months after the first complaints about a noisy addition to the neighborhood near Mitchell International, residents say the helicopter tour company upsetting them made a change.

But some say that change hasn't helped this summer. 

Residents who live near the airport know what they signed up for. But a number of people we talked to say airplane traffic is different than helicopters, and they've turned, once again, to an elected official for help.

"If you're outside or out in the front or whatever, you can definitely hear them going by," said Nicholas Castellanos, a Garden District resident.

But Nicholas Castellanos and at least one neighbor, don't seem to mind the helicopter traffic.

"I wouldn't say it really impacts day-to-day life. It's not really too much of a bother to us," said Castellanos. 

But off-camera, others tell us it is a nuisance, especially on weekends, so much so they invited County Board Supervisor Ryan Clancy out to see for himself. 

"And it was every 10 or 20 minutes, and it was, you know the volume of it was kind of conversation-stopping, and that's really not acceptable," said Clancy.

Clancy went undercover, booking how own tour over the weekend with MyFlight Tours, recording and posting it on social media.

"Much of the flight was as low as 200 feet, going over houses, and it's just not acceptable. It's too loud," said Clancy.

"It doesn't show the whole story. On his actual flight we pulled the data, and the cruise altitude was 12-hundred feet above ground level," said Sergio and Cassandra Troiani, co-owners of MyFlight Tours. 

The owners of MyFlight Tours have their own account of Clancy's video, as well as their own video of it. 

"That first little bit is the helicopter departing. So that was posted to basically fit his narrative. Rewinding that video 10 more seconds you'd see the helicopter on the ground there" said Troiani. 

Clancy says his office reached out to MyFlight Tours two or three times in June and got no response. The owners say they are more than willing to meet with him.

"So nobody's saying that they shouldn't be running these helicopter tours -- what I am suggesting is that they be high enough when they go over houses or that they change their route again to accommodate those," said Clancy.

Shortly after MyFlight Tours opened earlier this year, a Milwaukee alderman received complaints about it. The owners agreed to change their flight pattern. 

"In our climb out there's a big cemetery that's right next to the highway and railroad tracks, we use all of that," said Troiani. 

The Troianis said once the helicopter gets to any residential area, pilots are at a minimum of 1,000 feet above ground.

"His claims that we're cutting corners, flying low over residential, is absolutely absurd," said Troiani. 

MyFlight Tours have three options in Milwaukee tours. Supervisor Clancy wonders if the short option is just too short and if that is the reason for all the unwanted noise on the ground.