LOS ANGELES (CNS) - Los Angeles City Councilman Paul Krekorian voiced concerns today about the Federal Aviation Administration's plans to reroute more flights departing Hollywood Burbank Airport over Studio City and other areas of the San Fernando Valley.
The changes would take effect in November and send flights over Studio City, Sherman Oaks and Encino.
Krekorian said the FAA has not conducted a proper environmental review process on the flight changes, which are also opposed by the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Association and the Studio City Residents Association.
"Changing the flight paths from the current conventional routes to much more concentrated paths will focus more noise over a smaller area, including over schools and quiet residential neighborhoods,” Krekorian said.
"The FAA's unwillingness to be transparent about this process and its complete inability to articulate a true public benefit to be derived from the new flight paths wrongly shuts the public out of the discussion,” he said. ``I have told the FAA in no uncertain terms that they are legally obligated to start a formal environmental review process to consider these impacts and should engage in collaborative outreach to the community to identify alternatives to the paths currently proposed.”
The changes to the flight path are part of the FAA's new Generation Air Transportation System, or NextGen, which it says will make flying even safer, more efficient and more predictable by shifting air traffic control from ground-based radar and radio navigation to more precise satellite-based navigation and aircraft tracking.
"The FAA is proposing to update two existing routes for aircraft that depart off Runway 15 at Hollywood Burbank Airport,” according to an FAA statement. ``The purpose of the updates is to keep Burbank Runway 15 departures better separated from LAX arrivals to the south and from aircraft that are arriving to Burbank's Runway 8.
"The navigation points for the proposed route updates are over the mountains south of Sherman Oaks. However, air traffic controllers would vector some aircraft off the proposed routes, just as they do today. The FAA has not completed the environmental review for the proposed route updates, and has not made a final decision on implementing them.”
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