Airport Noise

There is no middle ground to the Burbank Airport issue. One is either heartily for the expansion or totally against it. The main issue is noise, noise, noise , and jobs have no relation to the noise problem. The "Airport Uber Alles" people either ignore the noise issue or downplay it. James Foy is concerned with the Los Angeles Unified School District's spending money on a lawsuit against the airport. Has he considered the depth of frustration which pushed the school district into litigation--how distracting and disruptive and just plain difficult it is to teach between airplane roars?

The Los Angeles City Council voted Friday to ask the Airport Commission to develop a new, balanced approach to reducing noise at Van Nuys Airport and submit the plan for approval within three months. The council was poised in 1997 to adopt a rule banning additional older and noisier jets, but delayed action to allow the airport to conduct a study of the effects of such a rule on the economy of the airfield. That study said the effects would be devastating.

Three homeowners associations are distributing thousands of flyers containing the telephone numbers that people can call to lodge complaints about aircraft noise from Van Nuys and Burbank airports. Homeowners associations from Encino, Studio City and Valley Village are mailing and handing out 8,000 flyers that urge people to "lay the foundation for changes in flight patterns." The mailing is the latest campaign in the homeowners' ongoing feud with the airports over aircraft noise.

The Van Nuys Airport is expanding its system for monitoring aircraft noise levels, but residents say it does not go far enough to reduce the annoying buzz of airplanes and helicopters over their homes. Robert Beard, noise-management manager for the Los Angeles Department of Airports, said the mostly complete, $1.

The public has until Oct. 1 to comment on the Federal Aviation Administration's proposal to ban a controversial takeoff procedure used at John Wayne Airport for noise abatement, officials said Thursday. The procedure, used mostly by pilots flying the McDonnell Douglas MD-80 jetliner, involves reducing engine power once the aircraft reaches an altitude of 500 feet.

A coalition of cities opposed to a new airport at the closed El Toro Marine base is asking Orange County officials to look again at how much noise would be created by jets landing at night. The group based its request on memos from the county's airport noise consultant, Vince Mestre, which they obtained through a public records request.

The Federal Aviation Administration expects to make a ruling shortly on whether Burbank Airport officials can expand their noise curfew, an aide to FAA administrator Jane Garvey said Monday. Burbank city officials want a mandatory 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. curfew on passenger jets to replace the current voluntary restriction. But officials with the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority say they cannot take such action without a costly FAA study. In a March 4 letter, Garvey told Rep.

El Segundo will study the feasibility of installing a sound barrier along Imperial Highway to reduce the noise from Los Angeles International Airport, which has plagued the city for 30 years. The Board of Airport Commissioners last week allocated $50,000, but no date for the start of the study has been set, said Don Harrison, assistant to the city manager.

A proposed Van Nuys Airport noise ordinance should be scrapped as "premature and not in the best interests of the city," possibly exposing the city to lawsuits, according to a report by the Los Angeles city administrative office that has been endorsed by Mayor Tom Bradley. The report, written by Principal Administrative Analyst Benjamin A.