FAA May Hinder Airport Noise Plan

Residents and officials aiming to reduce jet noise at the Van Nuys Airport are disappointed with what they view as a tepid response from the Federal Aviation Administration to their effort to roll back a noise curfew by one hour.

In response to a cautionary letter from the FAA, the director of the Los Angeles Department of Airports plans to meet with FAA officials in Washington to continue pushing the curfew proposal.

Jack Driscoll will travel east sometime in the next 45 days, according to airport spokeswoman Stacy Geere.

“We’re not giving up,” Geere said.

The Los Angeles City Council and Board of Airport Commissioners have both approved the 10 p.m. cutoff, which was conceived to allay residents’ complaints. The curfew, which now prohibits takeoffs and landings between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m., except in cases of medical emergencies, has been in place since 1981.

But the FAA must sign off on the change, and the letter from Susan Kurland, associate administrator for airports, warns council, commission and airport officials that Van Nuys could lose federal funding if the curfew change is enacted “through a misunderstanding of federal law.” Kurland writes that any change must be structured so as to conform to the Airport Noise and Capacity Act of 1990.

While officials remain fairly upbeat, some anti-noise advocates are angry about the letter. Don Schultz, president of the Van Nuys Homeowners Assn., called the FAA’s stance “hogwash.” Gerald Silver of the Homeowners of Encino dismissed the one-hour change as a “palliative” for residents and the letter meant “the only bone they [city and airport officials] threw to us is not going to be acceptable to the FAA.”

Sandor Winger, a member of the airport’s Citizens Advisory Council, also criticized the letter, but reserved some hope for compromise.

“It’s an act by the FAA of showing, ‘You can’t do this without us,’ ” he said. “But I always try to keep an open mind, and I do believe they may come around.”