Complaints Force Airport to Cancel Copter Route Tests

Van Nuys Airport officials Wednesday canceled the testing of new helicopter takeoff and landing patterns in response to an unusually high number of noise complaints from residents around the facility.

The new patterns were to be tested over a 30-day period beginning June 22 to see if they generated fewer complaints than the patterns currently used. Airport officials initially concealed the exact starting date, arguing that if residents knew about the tests, the results would not be valid.

But officials said they canceled the tests because neighbor complaints increased dramatically when two stories about the helicopter tests were published in The Times in late May. The stories did not specify the starting date of the tests but said they would occur sometime during a three-month period.

More than 250 noise complaints were reported to the airport since late May, compared to 11 during the first four months of the year, airport officials said. Although many of the complaints came before testing on the new patterns started, airport officials said they believe this was caused by a heightened awareness of the problem of helicopter noise and not by an orchestrated effort by airport critics.

Airport officials said the number of complaints made it difficult for them to determine whether the new patterns generated more noise complaints or whether residents were complaining simply because they were aware of the tests.

“Unfortunately, heightened public awareness, even before testing began, caused a high number of complaints, which made it impossible to gauge measurable results,” said Maurice Laham, an environmental manager for the Los Angeles Department of Airports.

The new test patterns involved rerouting a helicopter route that runs south from the airport directly over Bull Creek, a flood control channel that is parallel to the airport runways. During the testing, that route was shifted west to run over Balboa Boulevard, in theory using the street-level traffic noise to mask the noise of helicopters flying above the boulevard.

The second new pattern involved requiring pilots who depart east over Stagg Street to continue to Van Nuys Boulevard before turning south toward Los Angeles to minimize noise complaints from residents southeast of the airport.

Van Nuys Airport spokeswoman Stacy Geere said airport administrators have not decided whether they will try to perform the tests again.

A group of residents, pilots and airport officials, brought together by a consultant hired by Van Nuys Airport, met three times to discuss ways to reduce helicopter noise. As a result of the meetings, the consultant, CommuniQuest Marketing, a Manhattan Beach firm that specializes in airport noise issues, recommended the two helicopter route changes.

When the tests were first proposed by CommuniQuest, they drew a mixed response from Encino homeowner groups. Gerald A. Silver, president of Homeowners of Encino, objected to the tests, saying residents affected by the changes should be told the start date. Rob Glushon, president of Encino Property Owners Assn., however, said secret testing was needed to obtain scientifically accurate results.

Silver said Wednesday that he supports the airport’s efforts to reduce noise but felt the tests should have been performed only after the airport holds meetings with residents directly affected by the new routes.

“What this shows me is a stumbling and an incompetent manner of testing,” he said. “They bungled the tests.”