Story ID: 122LANoiseHAI16.doc
Complainers Want Higher Helo Base in LA
By: Mark Huber
Caption: Helicopter noise in the Los Angeles metropolitan area remains a critical issue.
Word Count: 1239
In the Los Angeles helicopter noise wars, 2,000 feet above ground level (agl) is the magic number, the nirvana of minimum helicopter cruising altitudes, various anti-helicopter groups aligned as the Los Angeles Area Helicopter Noise Coalition (LAAHNC or HNC) want to impose via regulation or statute. This despite the airspace chaos that move would create at the various airports throughout the Los Angeles Basin, including mixing helicopter and fixed-wing VFR traffic at the same altitude.

Last October the HNC announced that it was withdrawing from most voluntary collaborative efforts with area helicopter pilots and operators groups, including the Professional Helicopter Pilots Association (PHPA) and the Los Angeles Helicopter Operators Association (LAHOA) and would petition the FAA directly to establish a hard floor of 2,000 feet for helicopters in the L.A. Basin; restrict the number and length of time helicopters may hover in one place; require media helicopters to pool coverage; and establish a coastal shoreline route for helicopters.

The HNC believes the FAA must impose these regulations under language contained in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2014. This last-minute amendment added to a broader federal appropriations bill by select members of California’s congressional delegation, required the FAA to:

· Evaluate and adjust existing helicopter noise routes above Los Angeles to lessen noise impacts.

· Analyze whether helicopters could fly safely at higher altitudes.

· Develop and promote best practices for helicopter operators for limiting noise.

· Conduct outreach to helicopter operators on voluntary policies and increase awareness of noise-sensitive areas and events.

· Work with stakeholders to develop a more comprehensive noise complaint system.

· Continue to participate in collaborative engagement between community representatives and helicopter operators.

Most significantly, the legislation provided that within one year of enactment, the Secretary of Transportation “shall begin a regulatory process related to the impact of helicopter use on the quality of life and safety of the people of Los Angeles County unless the Secretary can demonstrate significant progress in undertaking the actions.”

On Jan. 16, 2015, the FAA’s Western Region issued a report that outlined the “significant progress” made to date. That report was later forwarded to Congress. Progress cataloged in 2014 included: development new beacon codes that distinguished helicopters from fixed-wing traffic; evaluation of numerous helicopter route adjustments, some with higher altitudes; identification of a new voluntary offshore route; promotion of camera pooling during major news events; issuance of advisory Notams for outdoor concert venues; identification of local noise hot spots and dissemination of handouts about them; promotion of best practices and implementation of a noise-reporting system; and continual collaboration with stakeholders.

The FAA went on to report, “The stakeholder steering group, with interaction from the FAA, has formulated a proposed set of over 20 voluntary measures for use by helicopter pilots and operators, ranging from voluntary helicopter routes to voluntary helicopter altitudes in specific areas that will reduce helicopter noise in noise-sensitive areas of Los Angeles County while maintaining adequate margins of safety. [The] FAA has participated in over 50 meetings with stakeholders and has been the primary provider of technical support, flight data and analysis to the stakeholders.”

Collaborative Efforts Continue

The HNC maintains that no progress has been made and has withdrawn from collaboration on any future measures. In a statement dated Oct. 20, 2015, HNC board member Richard Root said: “In the past few years our coalition has participated in 57 collaborative meetings and we proposed more than 30 voluntary practices to reduce noise. We are well past the Congressional deadline for progress and unfortunately we have still not reached any significant agreements.”

Morrie Zager, president of the Professional Helicopter Pilots Association and a sergeant with the Aero Bureau of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, maintains that the HNC will not accept anything less than a 2,000-foot floor on helicopter operations within the L.A. Basin.

“Our mantra is get educated, not regulated,” said Zager. “As pilots and operators we have spent thousands of hours of work in collaborating with these people and come up with several versions of best practices that were agreed upon. We were able to raise altitudes in certain particular [noise] hot spots as identified by the HNC. But every one of those things we’ve thrown out there and said that we would do, the HNC has come back and said, ‘Not good enough. That’s not going to make an impact.’ Essentially what they want is a minimum 2,000-foot agl [floor] in the entire L.A. Basin for helicopters to operate, and that includes police, fire and military unless actively engaged in an operation. They don’t care that 2,000 feet is often right in an IFR flight path or in an area of a lot of fixed-wing traffic. Their answer is to tell the FAA to reroute all IFR traffic. You need to change all the routing. The FAA can’t do that.”

Zager said that despite the HNC’s withdrawal from active collaboration on most fronts, the PHPA and the LAHOA are continuing their voluntary efforts to fly neighborly. “We have not abandoned our signed pledges and voluntary measures despite the HNC’s withdrawal because we are concerned with the citizens living below us in the L.A. area and we want to be good stewards. The FAA appreciates all the hard work we do and continue to do. The FAA is very happy that the pilots and the operators are staying engaged, despite the fact that the HNC is stepping away from the negotiations,” Zager said.

Every other month LAHOA, the PHPA and the local FAA safety team hold regional pilot summits in the L.A. area to discuss safety and flying neighborly, Zager noted. “We just had one at the end of January. We discuss hot spots as defined by the HNC, tips on how to avoid blade slap, things like that. “Despite the fact the HNC doesn’t think we have done enough and has disengaged, that has not stopped us from being the good guys,” he said.

The PHPA and the HNC continue to collaborate on sorting through complaints filed on the new FAA-funded automated helicopter noise complaint system that went live in March. Monthly representatives from the pilots group and the homeowners lobby sit down and review the complaints. “If there are numerous complaints on the same incident or an egregious incident in and of itself, we try to identify the offending entity, determine why they were flying the way they were, then report back to the HNC and explain why the operator was flying in this manner and any corrective action taken. We still do that monthly,” Zager said.

But the nature of these complaints is often suspect, Zager explained. “Complainers can log in with a telephone call or electronically and register an anonymous complaint. They have logged 4,000 to 6,000 complaints per month since the system went on line. While the system is anonymous, it does track the complainer’s number. We have found people who have the time to submit a complaint every 30 seconds or every minute practically all day and are abusing the system. We have one complainer who is responsible for 40 percent of all the complaints. Thankfully the FAA is able to dissect the system and see that there are people trying to skew it.”