VAN NUYS : Plan to Cut Noise at Airport OKd
In a fractious session, a panel of Van Nuys Airport officials, pilots and neighbors voted 10-to-5 Tuesday to approve a noise reduction plan that would extend a nighttime noise curfew, require pilots to reduce thrust on takeoff and provide the airport with equipment to identify noisy planes.
The plan, voted upon by the Van Nuys Airport Part 150 Committee, still must be approved by the Los Angeles Board of Airport Commissioners and the Federal Aviation Administration before it can go into effect.
It would require pilots to ease up on thrust during takeoffs and would expand by one hour a nighttime ban on departures by the noisiest planes--those classed by the FAA as making 74 decibels of noise on takeoff. The current curfew extends from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. The proposal would start the curfew at 10 p.m.
The committee added a requirement that the airport install a monitoring system to identify planes that violate the noise limits.
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