Update: December 17, 2019

 
On December 12, 2019, Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer, Councilman Paul Koretz (Encino, Bel Air) and Councilman Paul Krekorian (Studio City) announce that the City has sued the FAA over departures from Burbank Airport.

On December 12, 2019, Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer, Councilman Paul Koretz (Encino, Bel Air) and Councilman Paul Krekorian (Studio City) announce that the City has sued the FAA over departures from Burbank Airport.

THE CITY SUES FAA OVER BURBANK DEPARTURE PATHS

On Thursday, December 12, the City Attorney Mike Feuer and Councilmen Koretz (Encino/Bel Air) and Krekorian (Studio City), announced the City’s lawsuit against the FAA for flight changes at Burbank Airport (BUR).  Councilman Ryu (Sherman Oaks) was not in attendance. The City also filed another concurrent lawsuit for the FAA to respond to a series of Freedom of Information Act requests. Key points that were made included:

  • There was a sudden and dramatic change to flight paths at BUR that happened in 2017 impacting 250,000 residents in neighborhoods that have never had noise. The impact is doubled in the hillsides because planes are closer to homes. People on the ground are being victimized.

  • The FAA has finally admitted that there was a one-third mile southward shift but the City’s own experts say it’s more than a mile. The FAA continues to deny, however, that they know how that happened. The FAA has said very little to justify their actions.

  • The lawsuit was filed because of the FAA’s “stunning lack of accountability”. It demands the FAA return to historical paths and then determine a dispersed path.

  • Feuer said if he felt the Task Force was making progress he might have held the lawsuit but thinks progress isn’t being made. He said that the lawsuit wouldn’t stop Task Force collaboration - litigation or no litigation. Koretz noted that the Task Force (of which he is a voting member) has asked great questions but the FAA hasn’t answered them. Krekorian also said the FAA is not being transparent or cooperative.

Click here to see the entire press conference.

Click here to read the City's complaint.

Why Wasn't Van Nuys Airport Included?

Many of our members have asked why Van Nuys Airport was not included in this lawsuit. None of us can know exactly what is happening behind the scenes in the City Attorney’s war room. But here are a few facts:

  • VNY procedural changes weren't mentioned at any public workshop before Metroplex became final in 2016 and no EA was done, according to our review of Metroplex documents.

  • PPRRY waypoint which currently directs departures deep into the Santa Monica Mountains, foothills and Ventura Blvd corridor, wasn’t in the original Metroplex, and when it was implemented post-Metroplex in 2018, no Environmental Assessment (EA) or proper notice was given.

  • The FAA’s PPRRY “fix” announced in August is unacceptable as it would require a concentrated low-flying path and continue to impact our communities.

  • In addition, with hundreds of aircraft traversing the same elevated airspace, and poor crash record for General Aviation (helicopters, planes and jets), there is an extreme fire danger in the fire hazard severity zone (FHSZ) of the Santa Monica Mountains and foothills.

Our Solution

We are advocating for a return to historical, dispersed, high altitude departures at VNY with a variety of procedures for less impact on any one community — and without Performance Based Navigation (PBN) that require jets to hit waypoints along a low-flying, concentrated path. Can that be done?  Yes!  When the FAA was tinkering with a FATKO solution, between August of 2017 and May of 2018, they returned all flights to make their turns at 2.2 DME over the unpopulated Sepulveda Basin, where there were very few complaints.