Helicopter Noise Foes Set to Make a Racket to Airport Commission : Aviation: Sightseeing firm flies too close to Santa Monica homes, residents complain. Agency will address that issue and an airfield lease plan at a hearing Monday.

This will not be a sedate meeting of the Santa Monica Airport Commission, not with helicopters and jets on the agenda.

West Los Angeles residents are expected to turn out in force for a commission meeting Monday featuring two hot topics--noise caused by a commercial helicopter company and an airport lease plan that some say could increase small-jet traffic.

The helicopter question centers on a proposed permit renewal for Heli USA, a helicopter business that uses the airport primarily as a hub for sightseeing operations.

Residents of the Rancho Park, Cheviot Hills, Beverlywood, Westdale and Castle Heights neighborhoods have routinely complained to the commission that the company is causing a racket with intense bursts of helicopter traffic.

The problem, many residents say, stems in part from an FAA rule that exempts helicopters from altitude restrictions once they leave the airport’s airspace. Some of the choppers, they say, pass as low as 150 feet above homes.

But airport officials say Heli USA has an exemplary safety and noise-abatement record.

Still, some airport commission members say they may try to add restrictions to the new lease that, among other things, would limit the number of flights, impose a stricter curfew and require a permit for unusually intensive charter flying.

“Heaven knows we need the business funds for our community and airport to function,” said John Ezell, chairman of the commission. “But we are concerned about the sheer number of helicopters that (Heli USA) uses, sometimes a takeoff and landing every 15 to 20 minutes. Some neighbors work hard all day, come home and want to relax and then are bombarded by helicopter (noise).”

Nigel Turner, president of Heli USA, says most of his excursions are at night and involve a sightseeing loop over Downtown, Dodger Stadium, the mid-Wilshire area and Century City. He said his pilots try to fly over industrial areas, freeways and office buildings as much as possible. Daytime excursions are also available.

A fleet of four helicopters, each carrying as many as five passengers including the pilot, are used for an average of seven charter flights daily during the summer tourist season. During times of unusually heavy demand--the World Cup, the Super Bowl and Valentine’s Day, for instance--the company takes as many as 220 passengers aloft a day.

Some residents say the din can be overwhelming.

“They come in loud and low with a lot of blade slap. . . . It can be nerve-racking,” said Jim Donaldson, a Westdale resident. “People are trying to sleep, the windows are vibrating, chandeliers rattling and the animals and kids are scared. . . . It’s disrupting our lives, and (Heli USA) is financially gaining.”

Such complaints have persisted despite an agreement in September, 1993, between the Federal Aviation Administration and the City of Santa Monica that outlined enhanced safety procedures and noise-abatement rules for helicopters.

Turner says Heli USA also provides critical help during disasters such as earthquakes, floods and fires, when the company’s helicopters are chartered out to government officials, medical personnel and the press.

“We can’t have a million-dollar machine just sitting there (unused until) the public needs them,” Turner said. “Sometimes our industry gets frustrated because the public needs us but gets angry with these little bits of noise.”

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But for people who live under the helicopter’s flight path, the constant clatter is more than just an annoyance.

“I have nothing against helicopters,” said Larry Davis, a Castle Heights resident. “I only have questions when the uses are abused and they impact the quality of life in the area.”

Another controversial issue on the commission’s agenda Monday is a plan to solicit bids from businesses interested in securing a 20-year lease for the airfield’s 6.5-acre southwest corner.

Under a community noise-abatement program, two of the site’s three tenants have been moved to the airport’s North Field section. The third, Cloverfield Aviation, is scheduled to move by 1996.

Some critics of the plan--including Brian Ouzounian, an airport commissioner--fear a new tenant may be allowed to make capital improvement to the site, possibly to accommodate a corporate jet fleet. Ouzounian said that under the lease plan, aircraft sales and leasing, fuel service, engine maintenance, storage, flight training and air charter operations could be added.

Residents also worry that the airport is separately considering plans for a jet-blast wall to control noise and debris in the airfield’s southwest section.

“If (the airport) puts up that blast wall and signs a 20-year lease, (the lessee) can service every corporate jet until the cows come home,” said Eric Parlee, co-president of the Sunset Park Associated Neighbors, a residents group. “There will be more noise, more building and more debris.”

But officials at the airport say such fears are unfounded.

“Clearly, no one wants a series of turbine planes and a concentration of helicopters at that site,” said Jeff Mathieu, director of Santa Monica Airport. “The size of the parcel and its location will relegate it to the use of small aircraft.”