Supervisors Urge Probe of Low-Flying Jetliners

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors called for an investigation Tuesday into whether aircraft heading for Los Angeles International Airport are flying too close to houses and dumping excess fuel over densely populated areas.

The board also told the Department of Public Works to work with the Federal Aviation Administration and the city of Los Angeles’ Department of Airports in drafting a report on the matter within the next two weeks.

The board actions came in response to motions by Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke, who said dozens of her constituents in Ladera Heights, Windsor Hills, View Park, Lennox and Athens have complained about excessive noise from planes bound for the airport, and about fuel dumping.

FAA and city airport officials have told the county that no flight paths have been changed and that no fuel has been dumped, said Public Works Deputy Director Gary Hartley. “But we will definitely look into it since there have been reports of it,” Hartley said.

The Public Works Department handles aviation issues for the county, which has five airports.

Alicia Miller of the United Homeowners’ Assn. of View Park, Windsor Hills and View Heights, said the changes are obvious. “We’re not blind and we’re not deaf,” said Miller. “All you have to do is stand here and look in the sky; we see the bellies of airplanes constantly, every day, and that never happened before.”