Takeoff Pattern May Muffle Jet Noise in El Segundo

El Segundo residents hope to get relief from jet noise at Los Angeles International Airport when an experimental takeoff procedure starts next month.

The new procedure, directed at airliners that make early turns on takeoff, will require departing pilots to delay the start of their left-hand turns until they are nearly one mile offshore. In the past, turns have been initiated approximately at the shoreline.

The flight procedure takes effect Oct. 18 and will continue through February.

Airport officials contend that fewer than 4% of the daily takeoffs turn over El Segundo or the adjoining Hyperion Sewage Treatment Plant. El Segundo, however, has long complained about the noise problem, which occurs as planes departing westward from the airport head for destinations to the south or east.

The plan adds one mile to the point at which planes are required to have completed the turn. That distance has been increased from two miles to three.

Hours for the test are 6:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and 3 to 9 p.m.

According to LAX noise abatement officer Robert Beard, this will be the fifth attempt to solve the early turn problem since 1986. The new procedure supersedes a current test, which began Aug. 23, in which turns are initiated shortly beyond the shoreline but still must be completed within two miles.

El Segundo Mayor Carl Jacobson said all previous attempts were “doomed to failure” because they had the two-mile limit for completing turns.

“This one has a chance of working,” he said. “If they go out one mile (before turning), they will not turn over the city.”

As a gesture of optimism and good faith, the city will cover up its hillside “Unsafe Area for Jets” sign that was put up at the end of 1988 to discourage early turns. “We’re not removing it,” Jacobson said. “This is a test.”

Fred O’Donnell, a Federal Aviation Administration spokesman, said that at the end of the test period, the agency will look at results of both the test that began in August and the new one starting in October.

He said the agency will determine “which one can be safely done . . . in regard to managing aircraft and satisfying” the needs of El Segundo.

Both LAX and El Segundo hope the test extending turns by one mile proves successful and that the FAA approves it as part of the permanent takeoff procedure.

Beard said the airport’s informal noise abatement procedure has been for aircraft taking off to the west to fly past the shoreline before beginning turns. However, the procedure has been visual and some pilots have said they could not see the shoreline.

Under the October experiment, a signal will alert them to start the turn when they are nearly a mile offshore.

In another development relating to airport noise, El Segundo will buy a $245,000 house in the neighborhood closest to the airport runway to use as a demonstration project for residential soundproofing. The city entered into a 60-day escrow Sept. 15 to purchase the Hillcrest Avenue home.

“A lot of people are apprehensive about sound treatment, particularly the aesthetics of it,” said Don Harrison, assistant to the city manager. He said the house will allow “people to see what it is they would be getting” if they soundproof their homes using current technology.

The $511,000 demonstration project includes the cost to purchase the home and do soundproofing. Harrison said that, if there is money left over, other homes may be soundproofed. The city on Monday will receive a $408,800 FAA grant and provide the remainder of the funds to reach the project total.

The money is the first installment in a long-term FAA matching grant for which the city has applied. All told, El Segundo is seeking $23 million to soundproof up to 700 homes.