FAA Officials Get Earful on Helicopter Noise

Regional Federal Aviation Administration officials are collecting comments from San Fernando Valley residents and businesses on helicopter operations for use in a report on whether new regulations should be established for the aircraft. For the past year, helicopter noise has become a hot-button issue in the San Fernando Valley and other parts of Los Angeles. FAA representatives attended a public hearing Aug. 6 in Sherman Oaks that drew more than 150 people, including many Los Angeles area residents who complained of helicopter noise and are pushing for enforceable remedies. The agency scheduled an October meeting with helicopter operators from the media, tour companies, and municipal police and fire departments, said Ian Gregor, a spokesman for the FAA in Los Angeles. “We are going to drive home the point of flying courteously whenever possible,” Gregor said. The federal agency must complete its report by May 2013. The report is being done at the request of U.S. Rep. Howard Berman, D-Van Nuys. Last year, Berman sponsored legislation for the FAA to establish guidelines on helicopter operations in Los Angeles County. He said he learned of the problem after his office received complaints in late July 2011 about noise from helicopters covering the temporary closure of the San Diego (405) Freeway through the Sepulveda Pass. The Aug. 6 hearing, held in the auditorium of Millikan Middle School, attracted residents and businesses from the greater Los Angeles area, including the San Fernando Valley, Hollywood Hills, Brentwood, Torrance, and West L.A., where helicopters carrying media, tourists and celebrity photographers often fly. Homeowners groups and residents dominated the hearing with noise complaints and calls for oversight, while most of the helicopter operators did not speak. “I stayed in my foxhole the whole time,” said Alan Purwin, president of Helinet at Van Nuys Airport, who was present at the hearing but made no comments. “It was a tough room to speak in.” With 15 helicopters, Purwin operates the largest fleet in the Valley. Helinet and most other commercial operators are making an effort to fly friendly over residential neighborhoods, Purwin said. He said when he has received complaints about his pilots he addressed the problem. Complaints about evening and late-night flights likely have less to do with commercial pilots as they do with Los Angeles Police Department, Purwin said. “My perception was the passionate pleas came from people who experience that and those were not when the civilian guys were flying,” he said. Chuck Street, a pilot/reporter who has provided traffic coverage for KTLA and KIIS-FM, was among the helicopter pilots who spoke at the hearing. Street said he recognized about a dozen operators in the audience who attended because they want to work out a solution with residents. When police radio noise complaints to media helicopters during breaking news stories, pilots comply with their requests to fly higher, Street said. “In my 35 years of flying,” he said, “I’ve never heard one media pilot refuse to do that, ever.” Bill Withycombe, a regional administrator for the FAA, and Elizabeth Ray, vice president in mission support services from the agency’s Washington D.C. office, presided over the meeting. Reps. Brad Sherman and Adam Schiff, Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky and Los Angeles City Councilman Paul Krekorian attended the meeting. Yaroslavsky played a tape from a recent classical music concert at the Hollywood Bowl interrupted by a passing helicopter. “We don’t have years to wait to solve this problem,” he said. Current efforts by pilots to control helicopter noise are not working, residents said, noting the FAA needs to step in to control the problem. “We need enforceable, legal restrictions right now,” said Bob Anderson, a board member of the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Association. The association is recommending that commercial helicopters be restricted from flying below an altitude of 2,000 feet and hovering over an area for more than one minute. They also should have visible identification markings and not be allowed to fly during evening hours, Anderson said.