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Citizens Council Supports Helicopter Noise Bill

The Van Nuys Airport Citizens Advisory Council gave its backing Tuesday night to a proposed federal law to regulate helicopters in Los Angeles County. The council voted 13-0 to support the pending bill working its way through Congress that would require the Federal Aviation Administration to establish guidelines on flight paths and minimum altitudes for helicopter operators in county residential areas. The restrictions would not apply to police, emergency or military helicopters. “This is putting pressure on the FAA because conceivably it could pass in the Senate and the House,” said Wayne Williams, a member of the council. The advisory council has for years heard complaints from residents near Van Nuys Airport about helicopter flights to and from the Valley airfield. Starting in 2011, representatives of homeowner and neighborhood groups in the Beachwood and Bronson Canyon areas of Hollywood appeared before the council expressing their frustration with low-flying helicopters, particularly the tour operators giving paying passengers a close look at the famed Hollywood sign. The bill is sponsored by Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Burbank, who was joined by Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer and Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Sherman Oaks. A similar noise relief bill proposed by former Rep. Howard Berman failed to get out of the House last year. Berman has since lost his Congressional seat in a re-election bid against Sherman.

Mark Madler
Mark Madler
Mark R. Madler covers aviation & aerospace, manufacturing, technology, automotive & transportation, media & entertainment and the Antelope Valley. He joined the company in February 2006. Madler previously worked as a reporter for the Burbank Leader. Before that, he was a reporter for the City News Bureau of Chicago and several daily newspapers in the suburban Chicago area. He has a bachelor’s of science degree in journalism from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

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