Airport Violations Draw Record Penalty

The ex-president of a small air carrier operating out of Van Nuys Airport has been slapped with a record civil fine of $33,750 and banned from using the airport after repeatedly violating the airport’s overnight noise curfew.

The Los Angeles city attorney’s office reached an out-of-court settlement this week with Tim Prero, former head of Jet West International Inc., who faced a civil lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court alleging that he and his company had violated the curfew 11 times between April 1993 and November 1995.

The fine is the largest ever imposed for airport curfew violations in the city, said Mike Qualls, a spokesman for the city attorney’s office. It is also the first time a pilot has been banned from using Van Nuys Airport due to curfew infractions, he said.

The curfew prohibits takeoffs and landings from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. except in cases of medical emergencies.

In his defense, Prero had provided documentation showing that nine of the 11 violations were for medical emergencies. But investigators discovered that the documents included phony signatures attributed to real and fabricated staff members at area hospitals, according to Deputy City Atty. Lynn Mayo. No criminal charges were filed.

The company was sold after the violations occurred and is still operating at the airport under new ownership. However, two Lear Jets owned by private pilots and which were used by the company in the curfew violations have also been banned from using the airport, Qualls said.