Group Seeks Quiet Zones Near Airport

Annoyed at noise made by aircraft from Van Nuys Airport, a Benedict Canyon homeowner group has petitioned the Federal Aviation Administration to adopt a regulation restricting flights over “noise sensitive” neighborhoods.

If approved, the regulation would provide neighborhoods throughout the nation with a powerful new tool to fight airplane and helicopter noise.

But pilots and Van Nuys Airport tenants blasted the proposed rule, saying it would bring on many requests by homeowners to establish “noise sensitive zones,” putting drastic limits on aircraft flight patterns. They doubt the FAA will support the proposed rule.

“You can say any community in the U.S.A. is a special case,” said Nigel Turner, president of HeliLA, a helicopter sightseeing company that flies out of Van Nuys Airport and is a frequent target of noise protesters. “I don’t think it has a hope in hell.”

Nonetheless, several San Fernando Valley homeowner groups back the proposed rule change. One group has proposed strict restrictions on helicopter flights over neighborhoods.

The proposed regulation was published Thursday in the Federal Register, a widely circulated government publication that provides public notice of proposed rule changes, said FAA spokesman Pat Cariseo. After a 60-day public comment period, FAA officials will study the comments and consider whether to adopt the rule, he said.

Cariseo declined to comment on whether he believes the FAA will support the proposed rule. But he added that air traffic safety--not noise control--is the FAA’s top priority.

“This is something that the air traffic safety experts will have to take a look at,” he said.

The regulation was requested last year on behalf of the Benedict Canyon Protection League by league member and attorney John Alan Cohan. Under the proposed rule, no pilot could fly over noise sensitive zones except for police, emergency or “legitimate scientific purposes” or under instructions from an air traffic controller.

Noise sensitive zones would be designated by the FAA’s chief administrator at the request of a homeowner group, environmental protection group or other community organizations, according to the rule change petition drafted by Cohan.

If approved, Cariseo said the noise sensitive zones could be established on a temporary basis, for certain hours of the day or for certain days of the year, depending on the FAA administrator’s ruling on each request.

Cohan said he suggested the creation of noise sensitive zones because of the increasing complaints from hillside and canyon residents about helicopters and airplanes from Van Nuys Airport.

“It’s not a subjective or paranoid perception,” he said. “It is a fact that there is an increasing incursion by pilots.”

Cohan said he is unconcerned about putting undue restrictions on pilots. “It’s a privilege, not a right to use air space,” he said.

Neighbors of Van Nuys Airport, the busiest general aviation airport in the nation, have for years complained about aircraft noise, particularly noise generated by sightseeing helicopters that fly over the hillside neighborhoods.

Last year, the Los Angeles Board of Airport Commissioners voted to support two noise mitigation plans, one of which still awaits approval by the City Council.

Sandra Margolis, president of the Benedict Canyon Assn.--which represents homeowners south of Mulholland Drive, on the Beverly Hills side of the mountains--said her group was not involved in Cohan’s FAA request but supports any restrictions that limit flights over her neighborhood.

“We have a tremendous number of helicopters and planes going over our canyons,” she said.

But the noise complaints are not limited to the canyon and hillside areas. Residents in the Valley’s flatlands have for years complained about aircraft din.

Gerald Silver, president of Homeowners of Encino and one of the most vocal critics of the Van Nuys Airport, said he and other homeowner groups support Cohan’s request and would probably seek to have their neighborhoods designated as noise sensitive zones.

Silver sent his own petition to the FAA on Thursday, asking that all helicopters, except for those operated by police, fire and emergency crews, be required to fly at the same altitude as airplanes. Around Van Nuys Airport that minimum recommended altitude is 1,000 feet above the ground.

Current FAA regulations set no minimum altitude for helicopters but require that they pose no “hazard to person or property on the surface.”

Turner opposes the proposed restrictions, saying current regulations reduce the danger of mid-air collisions because they do not require helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft to share the same airspace.

“Noise will always take second place to safety,” he said.

Pilots and airport tenants point out that they have in the past voluntarily stayed clear of noise sensitive areas, such as the Hollywood Bowl during concerts. But they oppose mandatory restrictions.

Clay Lacy, owner of a jet charter firm based at Van Nuys Airport and member of the airport’s citizens advisory board, said Cohan’s restriction would create a “patchwork” of invisible noise sensitive areas, leaving pilots to guess where they could and could not fly.