Limit Noisiest Jets

A proposal by two Los Angeles City Council members to limit the number of noisy jets at Van Nuys Airport may offer the best opportunity yet to settle the long-running feud over how--or whether--the airfield should grow. That, or it could deepen the division between neighbors desperate for quiet and airport businesses afraid of overly restrictive rules. Clearly though, the motion introduced earlier this month by Mike Feuer and Cindy Miscikowski is a sign that the City Council finally wants to get serious about problems at the nation’s busiest general aviation airport.

It’s about time.

The motion calls for an immediate cap on the number of noisy jets built before 1984, so-called Stage 2 aircraft. It would also prevent new Stage 2 aircraft from replacing jets that leave the airfield, but would delay that non-addition provision for three years--to 2002--to give airport businesses time to adjust. At present, 53 Stage 2 jets are based at Van Nuys. They serve as charter aircraft and corporate jets--as well as the toys of the rich and famous.

Residents under the airport’s takeoff path, which stretches south to Encino and Sherman Oaks, have long complained that the thunder of jet noise keeps them awake at night and rattles their windows during the day. Although most of the jets based at Van Nuys are small, they are far noisier than the larger commercial passenger planes that fly in and out of Burbank Airport. All of those jets are Stage 3 aircraft.

The notion of a non-addition rule is not new. Two years ago, the council backed away from imposing the restriction and ordered a study of the economic impact. Last month, that study revealed that preventing airport businesses from replacing Stage 2 jets could cost 565 jobs and siphon away $190 million in revenues from the local economy over three years. But the report made an easy target for airport critics because it examined only the effect of a non-addition rule on the airport--and questioned only the very business owners whose livelihood is threatened by restrictions. It did not look at the effect of excessive noise on residential property values or on businesses not affiliated with the airport.

In a separate motion, Miscikowski asked for a study examining the cost of noise, requiring the airport commission to provide answers within 90 days. The notion is correct but the timing may be unrealistic. A responsible decision requires careful analysis--not the two years the airport study took, but enough time to draw conclusions that weather the inevitable criticism.

There is a real cost to unreasonable restrictions at Van Nuys Airport. But as The Times has noted before, the airport’s greatest asset is its location. It remains a convenient and vastly cheaper alternative to Los Angeles International Airport for small and corporate aviation operators. That will not change with reasonable rules that require owners to replace aging jets over many years with quieter models.

Feuer and Miscikowski are not asking jet owners to dump their existing aircraft. Their proposal calls for a limit. It allows the status quo to hold. That’s plenty noisy for many neighbors. The council members also understand that a non-addition rule cannot simply fall from the sky. Aircraft operators move their planes from place to place. By allowing three years to phase in the changes, larger operators can reassign their fleets and smaller owners can begin planning for the day when they must replace an aging plane. It is likely to be a decade or more before Stage 2 jets stop flying out of Van Nuys, but the lengthy change should begin soon.