Rotorcraft Update: New L.A. mayor expected to push for helo noise curfew

Now that former city attorney James Hahn has been elected mayor of Los Angeles, helicopter operators using Van Nuys (Calif.) Airport might be getting a little nervous. Responding to community complaints about helicopter noise at the busy general aviation airport just north of Los Angeles, Hahn campaigned advocating an agenda that included, in part, a proposal to institute a 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. noise curfew on rotorcraft operations at the airport. An operations ban on fixed-wing aircraft over those same hours is already in effect. Such a curfew would definitely cramp the operations of traffic-watch and newsgathering helos that use the facility, most of which begin turning rotors at 5 a.m. The newly inaugurated mayor is expected to raise the matter at an airport commission meeting this month.