Fullerton : Airport Makes Reports About Planes Easier

In response to complaints of inadequate response by authorities to reports of low-flying and noisy aircraft, the Fullerton Municipal Airport has employed an answering service to take calls after 5 p.m. daily and on weekends and holidays.

Previously, residents who called with complaints could reach airport personnel only between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. on weekdays. Calls after 5 p.m. were answered by a recorder.

But even those answered by a person often concluded with an airport employee hanging up on the caller, many residents angrily told the City Council last month.

Fullerton Airport Director Rodney L. Murphy acknowledged that he had seen controllers hang up when a caller insists on remaining on the line. But he said tower controllers are not the ones to call and are busy with their own work.

To report low-flying and noisy aircraft, residents instead should call (714) 738-6326. Airport staff employees will refer complaints to the Federal Aviation Administration, which investigates safety complaints.

To report a complaint, the FAA recommends jotting down the plane’s identification number, called the “tail number” or “N-number.” People also should note the time, date and location of the aircraft, the direction the plane was heading, the plane’s color, its flight characteristics (including unusual maneuvers), and its approximate altitude.

The FAA suggests that residents take photographs and have neighbors or others corroborate their sighting. Corroboration by police officers also is helpful because as ‘trained observers’ their “written statements or reports make excellent evidence should our enforcement action to go trial,” according to an FAA brochure.

For a copy of the brochure--”How You Can Help FAA Identify Unauthorized Low-Flying Aircraft”--call the FAA Flight Standards District Office in Long Beach at (213) 426-7134.

But Murphy said that most complaints can be resolved by working with the pilots.

“The majority of the pilots are conscientious and do their best not to disturb the community,” Murphy said. “The pilots tend to police themselves. We had one pilot who was causing a problem with low flying, and the owner of the business where he rented his plane refused to rent to him until he took refresher courses.”

Low-flying aircraft became a heated issue last month when the City Council voted to scrap a ban on small jets because FAA regulations prohibit discrimination against any one type of aircraft. After the vote, angry residents kicked off a write-in campaign for one of their own, Carl Stevenson, for city councilman in the Nov. 4 election.