Should Copters Be Subject to a Curfew?

Last week, members of the Los Angeles Airport Commission adopted a resolution that sought to extend to helicopters an existing curfew for airplanes.

The new curfew--proposed for the hours from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m.--would need approval of the Federal Aviation Administration and the Los Angeles City Council.

Helicopter pilots and community groups disagree strongly about the kinds of problems helicopters cause and how often and how early in the morning they should fly. They also disagree on the usefulness of media helicopters based at Van Nuys Airport.

Should there be a curfew for helicopters at Van Nuys Airport?

Gerald Silver, president of Homeowners of Encino and the Stop the Noise Coalition:

“The answer to that is absolutely yes, because that will put Van Nuys Airport on parity and equal footing with Santa Monica and other airports that have a 7 a.m. curfew. As it is now, without the curfew . . . every helicopter in the region can come in and operate at all hours of the day and night. . . . Van Nuys has become the media center for helicopters and for tourist helicopters for the whole region.”

Bob Pettee, president of the Professional Helicopter Pilots Assn. of California:

“Absolutely not. The helicopters . . . are used to serve the public in Los Angeles in some capacity or another. . . . [The media helicopters] have come through as lifesavers and suppliers of raw information and data to the public as well as to public agencies. Police and fire departments all have monitors who watch the different television stations. . . . The helicopters take off from Van Nuys along established routes that have been established to minimize the noises along the Van Nuys area.”

Tony Lucente, president of the Studio City Homeowners Assn.:

“We are subject to intense helicopter activity in the early hours of the morning and in the summer months it continues into the wee hours of the morning with the tourist helicopters. . . . Virtually all the helicopters fly through Studio City on the way to the Cahuenga Pass to downtown Los Angeles. . . . We support every effort to curb this noise as an attempt to improve the quality of life in Studio City and the East Valley. . . . Nobody is saying, ‘Let’s shut these guys down.’ We’re saying there’s some logical and reasonable alternatives.”

Robert Jackson, chairman of the Van Nuys Airport Citizens Advisory Council:

“You already have a noise ordinance that’s been in effect since 1981. . . . [Secondly] the helicopters are not flying at that time of night. That’s a bald-faced fabrication. . . . The earliest helicopters don’t start flying until a quarter to 6 in the morning. . . . The only ones flying at 1, 2, 3 or 4 in the morning are the police helicopters and the emergency helicopters.

”. . . [And] helicopters don’t come under the same noise guidelines as planes.”

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