NOISE PLAN ENDORSED FOR VAN NUYS AIRPORT; LONGER CURFEW, LOUD-JET PHASEOUT PUSHED.

Byline: Sharline Chiang and Eric Wahlgren Daily News Staff Writers

Noisy jets at Van Nuys Airport would be muffled under a plan approved Tuesday by the Los Angeles Airport Commission that pits residents' quest for peace and quiet against aviation company profits.

The proposal to curb noisy jet flights at 10 p.m., instead of the current 11 p.m. curfew, and bar any new so-called Stage 2 jets from joining the Van Nuys fleet still needs Los Angeles City Council approval.

But that approval seems likely, since five council members from the San Fernando Valley have made it clear they favor limiting the older, noisier jets.

The five lawmakers - Laura Chick, Cindy Miscikowski, Hal Bernson, Joel Wachs and Mike Feuer - initiated the proposal and their staff members testified in favor of it Tuesday, said Niki Tennant, a spokeswoman for a City Council committee overseeing airports.

Aviation company executives say the proposed ordinance would kill the booming aviation industry in town and cause layoffs. They also predict it would force many to move to the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport.

``If you can't bring in additional business here, then you'll have to go elsewhere,'' said Clay Lacy, president of Clay Lacy Aviation. His company manages five Stage 2 jets at Van Nuys Airport.

``I would have to say I'd continue in Van Nuys, but any expansion I do, I'd have to look to Burbank.''

But it's not at all clear that Burbank would be open to the change. That airport's proposed commercial passenger terminal expansion is contested by Burbank city officials and residents who don't want the extra noise and traffic.

The Burbank Airport's commercial airlines have agreed to fly quieter, Stage 3 aircraft such as the Boeing 737-300, but general aviation operators can use Stage 2 planes if they comply with a mandatory 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. curfew.

Adding new Stage 2 planes would not require the airport to cut back on other commercial or general aviation flights, said Victor Gill, a spokesman for the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority.

Gill said the airfield is largely unused and that there is a lot of time on any given day when the runway is available.

``The fact that there are more business jets here would not impact the number of commercial flights that can come here,'' Gill said.

But Burbank expansion opponents loathe the idea of more noisy jets - of any kind.

``The reason (Stage 2 planes) are being outlawed across the nation is that they are such an offense to humanity,'' said Margie Gee, a former airport commissioner from Burbank who was recently removed in part because of her outspoken views against air terminal expansion.

``They are not compatible with human life. The Van Nuys people recognize this. One would hope that the Burbank Airport officials recognize this.''

Van Nuys Airport neighbors say the new restrictions are needed to protect their quality of life.

And Gerald Silver, president of Homeowners of Encino and one of the most vocal activists for noise reduction, says his group wants even more restrictions, including a mandatory phaseout of all noisy jets using Van Nuys over five years.

``All this does is lock in the existing noise problems,'' Silver said. ``What the residents have been asking for is a phaseout of all the noisy jets.''

He also complained that the proposed ordinance affects only jets housed long term at the airport, but does not curtail so-called transient traffic from planes that pick up passengers or come in for fuel stops around the clock.

Several aviation company executives complained that they were not consulted or notified that the ordinance plan was going before the commission.

``We're up against a bad deal,'' Lacy said. ``I don't feel confident. But I do feel we can look for some kind of middle ground.

``I hope we can convince them that the effects of the economics of Van Nuys Airport would be more than the problems caused to the people who are complaining about the noise,'' Lacy said.