FAA Hits Longer Curfew at Airport : Widening Late-Night Takeoff Curb at Lindbergh Premature, Agency Says
The Federal Aviation Administration warned Tuesday that any expansion of the curfew on late-night takeoffs at San Diego’s Lindbergh Field is both “undesirable” and “premature.”
The FAA, which has ultimate authority over flight operations at the airport, delivered that note of caution at an airport noise hearing, the latest of many over the years in the continuing controversy over the effects of jet noise on residents of Point Loma.
The curfew on takeoffs now runs from 11:30 p.m. to 6:30 a.m. The San Diego Unified Port District, which owns the airport, is considering starting it at 10 p.m., with one important exception: Airlines that use the new generation of quieter jets--the so-called Stage III planes like the MD-80 and Boeing 737-300--would be allowed to operate between 10 p.m. and 11:30 p.m.
Effect on Commerce Cited
According to Arlene Feldmen, deputy director of the FAA’s western Pacific region, the FAA thinks the proposed restrictions are premature because a major noise study of the airport is under way. The study won’t be complete for several more months.
Moreover, the FAA, which has veto power over any regulations the Port District would enact, is concerned that the proposed rules could be a restraint on interstate commerce and place “undue economic discrimination” on airlines based on the type of jets they fly, she said.
Feldmen, who read from a letter written by the FAA’s regional director, H.C. McClure, also noted that her agency doesn’t normally substitute its judgment on noise regulations proposed by local communities. The FAA’s position, she said, would be to make sure that a new curfew expansion didn’t result in an “undue burden” on airport flight operations. But, quoting from McClure’s letter, Feldmen said: “We feel a restraint on interstate commerce may result” from the new restrictions.
The hearing Tuesday, which attracted about 150 people to the Holiday Inn at the Embarcadero, was called to elicit comment about the proposed regulations. As in other hearings held over the years concerning jet noise from the airport, the Board of Port Commissioners heard an earful from Point Loma residents frustrated and angered by what they see as a bureaucracy moving too slowly to solve the problem.
The solution is not necessarily an easy one. On the other side are the airlines and local business and tourism groups who say that any tampering with Lindbergh’s operations will hurt the region economically and deprive the area of service by driving the airlines away.
While the board took no action, saying it will wait 30 to 60 days while the Port District staff comes up with final recommendations, two of its seven members came out strongly in favor of building a new airport elsewhere in the county, and one member said the board shouldn’t be afraid to make late-night takeoffs more difficult.
Commissioner Louis Wolfsheimer said that San Diego has always suffered from “an inferiority complex” when it comes to dealing with the airlines, noting that the city has been afraid that the airlines would leave if it pressured them to make changes.
But Wolfsheimer contended that San Diego is such a lucrative market that the airlines can’t afford to bypass it. In fact, he said, unless the Port District does something to stop the use of older, noisier jets out of Lindbergh Field--particularly at night--the city will become a dumping ground for such planes as other cities in the country move to restrict them.
“I’m convinced,” he said, “that if we don’t do something, we will become home for all those 727s in Denver and San Francisco . . . who don’t want their residents wakened up.”
Steady Growth Foreseen
He and Commissioner Sheldon Portwood both said the only long-range solution to both noise and congestion at Lindbergh Field is the construction of another airport, an idea that has been advanced several times in the past but has always died.
“There’s no question in my mind that San Diego’s airport won’t be able to handle the ultimate demand placed on it in the near future. . . . No question about it,” Portwood said. Wolfsheimer, noting that Lindbergh Field has only one main runway, said a growing city such as San Diego will eventually be constrained by such a limitation.
Airport consultants have told the Port District that Lindbergh Field is expected to undergo steady growth in traffic over the next decade--from nearly 8 million passengers in 1985 to 14 million in 1996, an increase of 75%. The airport, which is considered the noisiest in the state, is already the focus of several lawsuits from Point Loma residents.
Among residents who spoke in favor of the expanded curfew was Terry Nickle, who said he knows firsthand what the din from departing jets has done to his neighborhood. While many others at the hearing testified that the nearly constant noise was robbing them of tranquility, Nickle said the racket had already cost him $125,000.
Nickle said that, in 1980, he bought a five-bedroom, Spanish-style house built in 1935 on Zola Street, near Point Loma High School. A year later, he finished a $400,000 renovation and remodeling project--part of which included installation of a swimming pool, hot tub and solar heating system--and had the house reappraised at $600,000.
Recently, he sought to refinance his house and, to his dismay, a major bank appraised it at $475,000, Nickle said.
“I pressed for an explanation,” he said during a break in Tuesday’s hearing. “I was told it was due to the decreased desirability of the area due to the great amount of jet noise.”
Nickle, an antique car dealer, also said the jet noise has caused havoc with a $700 alarm system he installed in one of his cars that he parked outside his home. Late-night takeoffs would shake the car enough to set off the alarm, and he now parks the vehicle in the garage, Nickle said.
With multiple variations, that was the story Tuesday from supporters of the proposed restrictions
Marines Add Criticism
Among those was Lt. Col. Rip Courter, director of facilities at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot, which is next to the airport. As the Marines have steadfastly contended, Courter said the noise is the “worst environmental” problem facing the facility, citing a “detrimental effect on our training and sleeping.” Not only are the 4,500 recruits affected, he said, but so are hundreds of others, including families, who live on and use the base.
Many other supporters of the proposed restrictions--from the Bay Crest Home Owners Assn. and the Airport Coalition, to just plain citizens and two Point Loma High School students--said they needed a respite from the nearly constant daytime roar of jets.
They said it was an injustice to expect Point Loma residents to endure the roar of low-flying departing jets, particularly from older aircraft such as Boeing 727s, at bedtime and early in the morning.
Several said that, despite the curfew, it’s common for takeoffs to occur until midnight. Many also called for the use of quieter planes from 6:30 a.m. to 7 a.m.
On the other side were groups such as the Federal Aviation Administration, the Convention & Visitors Bureau (ConVis), the San Diego Chamber of Commerce, the American Society of Travel Agents and the Air Transport Assn. of America.
Alan B. Wayne, an official with United Airlines, and Ron Ricks, an official with Southwest Airlines, said their airlines had made large purchases of the quieter jets but that demand for the plane is so great it will take several years before they become the common jets in their fleets.
Dick Tullar, chairman of the board of ConVis, said expansion of the curfew could harm San Diego’s economy, especially with the city’s new convention center scheduled to open in two years. “We must never forget that good air service is essential to a good local economy,” he said.
Gail Stoorza Gill, representing the Chamber of Commerce, told the commissioners that late-night flights are often the less expensive ones that cater to tourists, and that such flights are a critical part of a transportation network that connects San Diego to other cities, particularly those in the East and Midwest.
Gill said it is unrealistic to expect airlines to change to Stage III planes overnight and that any loss of service would be a hardship on the community at large.
“A slow dismantling piece by piece of airline service--this is unacceptable,” she said.
