THE Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) struck down request to limit eastbound flights departing from Los Angeles International Airport between midnight to 6:30 am.
Community groups state that such departures cause noise pollution in South Bay area neighborhoods.
Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) was mandated to request the flight restrictions as part of a 2006 settlement with city and county agencies that were against the LAX master plan, which supports more airport traffic.
The FAA said limiting these flights “would benefit less than 0.2 percent” of the population, “would not meaningfully relieve LAX’s noise problem” and would have burdened airlines. Had the request been approved, aircrafts would have been required to reduce their load so they could safely take off in a westward direction.
The majority of late-night departures take off over the ocean, depending on weather conditions, yet an average of 65 flights annually still opt to fly eastward.
Among reasons planes choose to go toward the east include wind conditions, as some pilots find it fitting to fly against the wind in some circumstances. Additionally, aircrafts that fly in this direction are high-capacity ones that make use of the slight slope on the runway for flights going east.
LAX spokeswoman Nancy Castles said it was unlikely that the FAA would agree to such a request, citing a 1999 instance when Bob Hope Airport failed to implement a similar curfew.
“The bar was set extremely high and we were aware of this from the outset,” she told Los Angeles Daily News. “We did our best … and LAWA accepts the FAA’s decision.”
Danny Schnieder, chairman of the LAX Community Noise Round Table, expressed disappointment with the FAA’s decision to “disregard the community again.
“We haven’t fully given up, but, quite frankly, there’s a limit to how many resources you can use up,” he told the Daily News.
(With reports from Los Angeles Daily News)
(www.asianjournal.com)
(LA Midweek December 3-5, 2014 Sec. A pg.1)