On-Air Rush Hour

To the east, dawn’s halo silhouettes the rugged San Gabriels. Somewhere a rooster crows, hinting of bygone simpler days. Headlights slowly increasing in intensity, flow along freeway arteries.

Suddenly, a roar of helicopters and aircraft pierce the silence around Van Nuys Airport. It’s 5:45 a.m. and a new day for 1.4 million denizens of the San Fernando Valley. For the next 20 minutes an army of traffic reporters soar into the skies, scrambling to get the first jam-up of pileup.

GOOOD MOOORNING, L.A.!

Van Nuys, the busiest general aviation airfield in the world, is home port for the majority of air traffic reporters serving the car capital of the world--Southern California. Their job is to help the motorists get from here to there, which means anywhere in the counties of Los Angeles, Ventura and Orange, as well as parts of San Bernardino, Kern, Riverside and San Diego.

After a series of takeoffs that some airport neighbors complain blight their mornings with engine noise, pilots out of Van Nuys head off in all directions over the Southland, checking the progress of commuters from the Antelope Valley, the creep through Sepulveda Pass, the length of the backup on the Conejo Grade.

Often reporters share information with one another, monitoring dozens of stations while listening for cues for the next broadcast. Some reporters share a pilot, broadcasting to different stations from the same aircraft.

Broadcasting live every two to three minutes, airbourne traffic reporters can be heard on more than 40 radio and TV stations throughout Southern California. While the pilot maneuvers around the traffic in the air, the reporter offers tips to those maneuvering on the ground.

Unless breaking news draws them to an unexpected location, the traffic reporters migrate back to Van Nuys after the morning commute, ready to begin the ritual again for the motorists’ trips back home.