Delegation Says Agency's Proposed Voluntary Guidelines Will Be Ineffective

A group of California lawmakers held a public hearing in Griffith Park in the Los Angeles, CA, area to demand that the FAA establish restrictive helicopter corridors over the city to deal with what they say is excessive noise from the aircraft.

The FAA issued a report at the end of May that said helicopter companies should be self-regulating, adopting voluntary guidelines rather than the agency imposing enforceable rules in an effort to reduce the noise in Los Angeles County. The catalyst for the complaints have been flights conducted by sightseeing tours over the homes of celebrities, the Hollywood sign, and other landmarks.

The Los Angeles Times reports that Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Haroslavsky said that he sees no reason that helicopters should be flying at 300-400 feet over any part of the county. He said that "the FAA needs regulations that have some teeth."

Representative Adam Schiff (D-CA) (pictured, below) arranged the meeting, which was attended by between 150 and 200 people, according to the paper. Those in the audience included helicopter pilots as well as community activists. Schiff, who has sponsored legislation to require the FAA to establish helicopter corridors over the LA area, said that "voluntary measures in the past have produced few results."

FAA officials who attended the meeting said that a blanket approach would not be as effective as working with individual neighborhoods to meet their specific needs, but those guidelines would be voluntary. They said that they would consider changes in flight paths, altitude restrictions and hover times, along with a comprehensive complaint system available to the public.

Larry Welk, president of the Professional Helicopter Pilots Association, said "This is not an unregulated industry." He said that helicopter pilots are well aware of the noise their aircraft can make and are sensitive to how that affects people on the ground.

The homeowners who attended the meeting, however, sounded the same theme as they had in previous public forums, saying that the aircraft fly low enough to drown out conversations and in come instances set off car alarms.

FMI: http://schiff.house.gov, www.phpa.org, www.faa.gov