CAA: GA News, "Van Nuys Airport noise gets muffled"

["Stephen Irwin" <stepheni@xxxxxxxxx>]

Friday, March 1, 2002

Airport noise gets muffled 
By Erik N. Nelson
The Los Angeles (CA) Daily News


VAN NUYS -- Homeowners who have lived for years with the noise of
airplanes buzzing overhead finally are getting relief under a
soundproofing project for homes near Van Nuys Airport.

Los Angeles World Airports has budgeted up to $20 million for
soundproofing improvements at about 1,000 houses and apartments affected
by high noise levels from the general-aviation facility's average 1,200
flights a day. 

So far, double-pane windows, air conditioning and other noise-control
devices have been installed in 33 of the homes.

"It's dead still in here. You can't hear birds. You can't hear the cars
go by," said Jerry Hartman, who bought his home in 1963 for $24,500 --
less than the $32,000 the city spent for soundproofing it last August.

"No, I don't miss the noise," he added.

Hartman and his wife got a visit Thursday afternoon from Mayor James
Hahn, who stopped by to tout the success of the program and to present
the retired couple with a basket of airport paraphernalia, including a
coffee mug and a tote bag.

"We shut the door when we saw the jet coming over, and you could
instantly see the difference," said Hahn as he stood in the Hartmans'
living room in front of a double-pane picture window. The door included
a slab of rubber to help absorb sound.

Recycled-paper insulation, blown into the Hartmans' ceilings, and an
aluminum-framed double-pane glass patio door also keep out noise.

"The jets sometimes come in at 2 or 3 in the morning," Hartman said as a
small twin-engine jet headed in for a landing, with a low hiss, before
the mayor arrived. The jet-engine "birds" are still audible, but much
quieter, Hartman explained.

Not everyone who regularly hears the private jets taking off from the
airport knew about the program, however.

"No one has approached me," said Linn Walton, who has lived on the same
block as the Hartmans for 23 years and knew that city officials were
contemplating a soundproofing program. "I thought that maybe they had
forgotten about the whole thing."

But airport officials showed a map of the zone of eligible homes --
determined because they were subjected to noise levels above 65 decibels
-- and her home was several doors outside the boundary.

The lines were drawn based on noise testing done in 1998, explained
Nancy Niles, soundproofing project manager. Completion of the project is
expected by 2005, and then the noise area will be re-evaluated, Niles
said. If it expands enough, Walton's home might become eligible.

Van Nuys Airport neighbors have experienced a topsy-turvy noise
situation since the area became heavily populated in the 1960s.

Although more of the airport's flights were propeller-driven private
craft in the past, it was used as an Air National Guard base with
military jets and large cargo turbo-props like the C-130 Hercules until
1989, said Airport Manager Selena Birk.

Over the years, more small but noisy corporate jets have used the
airport, although in recent years newer jets have become quieter. In
2000, the Los Angeles City Council voted to give preference to quieter
jets when allowing new airplanes to be based at the facility, Birk said.

Stephen Martin, senior engineer for acoustics research and consulting
for El Segundo-based Wyle Laboratories, said noise zones around most
airports have become smaller as jets have become quieter, but couldn't
say that for sure about Van Nuys Airport.

"A (Boeing) 727 came in here today. I've never seen an aircraft like
that come in here before," said Martin, who advises the city airports
agency on noise issues.

The passenger jet is owned by Clay Lacy, president of Clay Lacy
Aviation, a company that provides, among other things, executive jets
for hire out of Van Nuys Airport.

Burbank Airport, unlike Van Nuys Airport, has scheduled passenger
airline flights and a much more significant noise issue.

About 300 homes per year are now being soundproofed in Burbank's
Residential Acoustical Treatment Program, begun in 1997. Soundproofing
is under way or completed in more than 1,000 homes.

Burbank, Glendale and Pasadena, which created the agency that runs the
Burbank Airport, have secured more than $30 million in funding for their
anti-noise program in which about 5,000 homes ultimately will be
soundproofed.


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