Holding Pattern: The jet set at times...

Holding Pattern: The jet set at times moves at a snail’s pace. A decade after it was proposed, a one-hour extension on a curfew for noisy jets at Van Nuys Airport is expected to go into effect in mid-January. The new curfew still needs full City Council approval, but that is viewed as a formality. “It’s pretty much cut and dried,” said a spokesman for Councilman Joel Wachs.

Winding Down: Everybody’s waiting. The maiden flight of the Rubber Bandit, the world’s largest rubber-band- powered airplane, is expected early next year. Only five out of 57 parts remain to be completed for the wings, spanning 71 feet. “We have over 10,000 people in a database who have requested to be here,” said a co-worker of designer George Heaven, above, who expects to pilot the craft.

Jet Terminator: They fly the stars. Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger is among luminaries and business moguls frequenting the Pacific Holding Co., the newest private executive jet terminal at Van Nuys Airport. Adorning chablis-colored walls is commissioned artwork depicting great destinations: the Taj Majal, Mt. Fuji, the Parthenon.

Weather or Not: Pilots are on their own. An automated weather station designed to provide up-to-the-minute information, even when the air-traffic control tower is closed, is a long time in coming. The $170,000 Van Nuys system, installed in August 1996, is not expected to be activated before the spring. The apparatus is still being tested.