Proposed Night Copter Ban Not Likely to Fly With FAA : Van Nuys Airport: Seven lawmakers want the sightseeing tours halted. But the federal agency has the last word.

Local politicians may not share the same views on the deficit or Bill Clinton’s patriotism, but the last week has shown they do agree on one thing: the need to ban nighttime helicopter tours to preserve peace in the Valley.

No fewer than seven elected officials--ranging from city councilmen to a congressman from the San Fernando Valley--issued statements calling for a ban on night tour flights out of Van Nuys Airport to reduce noise in neighboring communities.

The problem is, ultimate authority over who can and cannot fly out of the airport lies not with local officials but with the Federal Aviation Administration, and the FAA has long opposed attempts by local officials to single out an aircraft from an airport that receives federal funding.

Even members of the Los Angeles Board of Airport Commissioners, which sets policy for the city’s four airports, say it is unlikely that they can impose a ban in light of the FAA’s position.

“I doubt that we can impose any type of ban,” said Commissioner Jack Tenner, a retired judge.

So, is this call for a helicopter ban just electioneering?

“It seems to me this is more of a political issue,” said Nigel Turner, president of HeliLA, the state’s largest helicopter sightseeing operation. He suggests that elected officials are attacking his tours simply to make points with the voters during an election year. In other words, he accuses politicians of being, well, politicians.

But the lawmakers reject Turner’s charge, saying they have taken a stand because of the noise complaints they have received from residents near the airport.

Those taking an anti-helicopter stand include Councilmen Zev Yaroslavsky and Marvin Braude, state Sen. Herschel Rosenthal (D-Los Angeles), Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Panorama City), and Assembly members Tom Hayden (D-Santa Monica), Terry B. Friedman (D-Encino) and Barbara Friedman (D-Los Angeles).

“This is not a manufactured issue,” said Laura Cohen, deputy chief of staff for Tom Hayden, who is running for state Senate in a district that includes parts of the Valley. “We got involved because it’s a very real problem for people who have to live with the noise.”

She said Hayden is calling for helicopter night tours to be gradually phased out.

Last year, about 12,200 people took nighttime sightseeing tours. HeliLA makes eight to 10 flights a night out of Van Nuys Airport, while HeliNet, another helicopter firm based at the airport, flies about four tours a week. Together, they generate less than a 10th of the nearly 150 flights of all types of aircraft in and out of the airport daily.

In June, a company called Sunshine Airlines began operating similar evening sightseeing tours using airplanes.

The calls for a ban on helicopter tours came last week during a meeting of the Board of Airport Commissioners in Van Nuys. The meeting, which was attended by about 240 people, was to discuss airport noise in surrounding communities.

“To counter the effects of these tourist flights, I believe that the Board of Airport Commissioners should adopt strict regulations on purely sightseeing operations, and impose a ban on all non-emergency nighttime helicopter operations,” Assemblyman Terry Friedman told the board.

Berman went a step further. “Training, corporate and other private helicopter operations should be banned or restricted,” he said in a statement read by an aide. “All dinner flights, sightseeing and recreational helicopter operations should be banned entirely.”

But the call for a ban is not likely to fly with the FAA, officials said. The FAA provides funding to airports around the country such as Van Nuys on the condition that the airports are accessible “without unjust discrimination, to all types and classes of aeronautical uses,” according to an agreement between the federal government and the city of Los Angeles.

FAA spokeswoman Elly Brekke said if the Department of Airports violates the funding agreement by imposing a discriminatory ban, the agency will seek to collect all federal funds given to the city’s airports in the past.

Nonetheless, the airport commissioners said they would meet next month to discuss the issue. Board members also asked the city attorney’s office to draft a report outlining possible actions the board can take to address the copter flights.

The politicians, most of whom are seeking reelection or higher office, say they are only responding to their constituents. Tom Waldman, a spokesman for Berman, said the congressman’s Valley office got “occasional calls” from residents about helicopter noise.

Waldman rejected the charge that the congressman’s stand on the helicopters tours is motivated by election-year politics. “When you get calls from so many angry people, your inclination is to respond pretty quickly, regardless of what year it is,” he said.

Kelly Davis, an aide to Assemblyman Friedman, said the assemblyman’s staff has “been getting an increased amount of calls in the past six months” about the helicopter flights.

But comments from several lawmakers indicate a single homeowner group was instrumental in bringing the issue to their attention.

Berman’s staff first heard about the helicopter complaints in a letter from Assemblyman Friedman, and Davis, of Friedman’s office, said she became convinced that the flights were an important issue after attending a meeting of Homeowners of Encino and talking to Gerald A. Silver, president of the group.

Turner has charged that Silver is exaggerating the problem of helicopter noise, saying helicopter tours do not even fly over Silver’s neighborhood.

To prove his point, Turner said he and an assistant went to Silver’s home on Sunday night, Oct. 4, and took noise readings. He said his noise meter registered a 74 decibel noise reading from a police helicopter flying overhead, 65 decibels from a Cessna airplane, 60 decibels from a motorcycle passing on nearby Ventura Boulevard and 62 decibels from a car passing Silver’s house. Turner said his noise meter could not pick up the sound of a HeliLA helicopter leaving Van Nuys Airport in the distance.

But Silver rejects the charge that he has orchestrated a campaign against the helicopter flights, saying elected officials addressed the issue because they received complaints from their constituents.

“I think there is a severe problem and it has now surfaced and the elected officials have decided to address it,” he said.

As for FAA opposition to bans on specific aircraft, Silver acknowledged that the only action airport officials may be able to take is to impose a nighttime curfew on helicopters.

Davis, Assemblyman Friedman’s aide, said she understands the FAA’s position but “sometimes you just have to take a stand.”