PRIVATE JETS STEER CLEAR OF FIGHT OVER NOISE; BURBANK TARGETS AIRLINES WHILE LOUD CORPORATE PLANES FLY ON.

Byline: Deborah Sullivan Daily News Staff Writer

While Burbank city leaders fight a proposed new passenger terminal at Burbank Airport, two private terminals that house the jets of Hollywood heavy-hitters such as Time Warner and DreamWorks SKG have gone through $28 million in renovations without a word of city protest.

The planes hangared in those private terminals - the Gulfstreams and Lear Jets that whisk executives to power lunches across the country - are as loud or louder than most commercial airliners, public records show. Six of the seven noisiest flights out of Burbank Airport are these corporate jets.

So now airport officials are battling the city over whether to control private jet noise.

``Our statement used to be that the airline jets were the biggest part of the noise problem,'' said airport spokesman Victor Gill. But as airline manufacturers have made passenger planes quieter, ``we're getting to the point that the corporate jets are the biggest part of the problem.''

The city dismisses restricting business jets but fiercely opposes new commercial flights.

Indeed, city officials are busy now fighting plans by Reno Air to launch a 6:40 a.m. flight to San Jose on Thursday.

Today, Burbank Airport commissioners will again consider whether to lease the counterspace and offices that Reno Air needs to begin its four flights a day to San Jose. Burbank city officials oppose the lease, saying that the early morning flight violates the mandatory curfew on departures before 7 a.m. and would only worsen the noise impact on residents.

The flight is another example of the earth-rumbling, sleep-shattering noise that disturbs residents, according to city officials. They contend noise that jars people awake comes primarily from big airline jets on scheduled flights, not the smaller planes that ferry VIPs from such companies as Disney, Time Warner, DreamWorks SKG and MCA.

``Our position is that when people complain about noise, what they complain about is the Southwest jet taking off,'' said Burbank City Manager Robert ``Bud'' Ovrom. ``Occasionally, what they complain about is Michael Eisner leaving on his jet.''

As the dispute rages, residents living under the flyways feel under sonic siege from all sides.

``When you start getting the corporate jets with the commercial jets with the private aviation, for the average person in the community, they still break it down the same way,'' said Jim Arone of Citizens United of Burbank. ``Noise is noise is noise.''

Late, loud corporate jets

A study of airport noise conducted by the consulting firm Coffman Associates projects that commercial airlines will make five times as many jet flights as private fliers, but private jets will account for six out of seven of the noisiest, Stage 2 jet flights.

Furthermore, flights during the voluntary overnight curfew between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. are dominated by air cargo carriers, not by commercial airlines.

A coming section of the airport's noise study will calculate what portion of the din comes from the noisy jets and will suggest the best measures to fix that.

The noisiest planes are vastly louder than newer Stage 3 jets, contribute disproportionately to the overall noise problem and are not permitted to fly at night at Burbank Airport, Gill said.

In Stage 2 aircraft, air is forced through the jet at high speeds and temperatures, colliding noisily with cooler, slower outside air.

In Stage 3 airplanes, most air flows through fans around the jet engine at lower speeds, merging more quietly with outside air.

Depending on takeoff weight, a Stage 2 Gulfstream corporate jet can sound more than twice as loud as a Stage 3 Gulfstream, said Mark Johnson, the technical project manager for the Burbank Airport noise study.

However, even relatively quiet night flights can jolt a sleeper awake and therefore have an impact much higher than their actual sound level.

Efforts to control noise from commercial planes address both problems. Current rules require airlines to use only quieter Stage 3 jets and hold them to a voluntary nighttime curfew.

Many residents and city officials feel those rules are woefully inadequate to control airport noise and are pushing for a mandatory curfew or a cap on operations.

The push by Reno Air to ignore the voluntary curfew rankles Burbank officials. Airport officials say they cannot force the airline to follow the curfew, since four scheduled flights by three other airlines already depart between 6:30 and 7 a.m.

But business planes are subject to few of the restrictions imposed on airlines.

Although no one is allowed to fly Stage 2 jets at night, private companies can use them freely during the day.

At least nine private Stage 2 jets are hangared at Burbank Airport, including one owned by Roy Disney's subsidiary Earth Star and another owned by Kevin Costner's TIG Productions.

And while most airlines have agreed to avoid night flights of even relatively quiet jets, Stage 3 corporate and cargo jets can take off any time of the day or night.

Between May 1996 and April 1997, the airport logged 18,451 night flights, of which 14,814 - 80 percent - were either private or cargo flights. The balance represented airliners.

Good neighbors

Private companies at Burbank Airport claim they are being good neighbors.

Media Aviation, one of two companies that operate terminal and hangar buildings for private planes, reports that it houses only quieter Stage 3 planes whose pilots use quiet flying techniques. Its tenants voluntarily abide by the overnight curfew, with only a few exceptions a year, said Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Bob Volk.

Volk would not provide documentation, citing confidentiality of clients.

Media Aviation and the airport's other private hangar operator, Mercury Air Group, have recently undergone major renovations, with the city's full support.

Media completed a $20 million redevelopment this year that Volk said allowed its tenants to convert from small, noisy jets to new large ones that he said produce less noise.

Mercury Air Group is in the midst of an $8 million renovation that will convert its terminal to a luxury facility equipped with a film screening room, an outdoor putting green and conference room with Internet access, designed to pamper movie executives, said spokesman Geoff Maleman.

``We call it our Hollywood Oasis,'' Maleman said.

Little review

In each case, Burbank approved the renovations with just a development review - a fairly simple approval process that checks compliance with zoning codes, said City Planner Rick Pruetz.

And although several other local agencies protested in Mercury's environmental impact report that the company's renovation could impact traffic or air quality, the city submitted a two-sentence letter stating simply that it had no comments on the project.

``We were supportive of both Mercury and Media Aviation,'' Ovrom, the Burbank City Manager, said.

He acknowledged that the city also has a financial incentive to keep corporate planes around. The city received $825,000 in property taxes last year from planes stationed at the airport. That amount hovered between $800,000 and $900,000 since 1994.

It's projected to jump to $1,064,000 this year, which would bring airplane property taxes to 7.2 percent of the city's total projected property taxes.

``Those planes are tagged basically equivalent to property taxes you'd get off a new building,'' Ovrom said. ``So if Warner Bros. buys a new $35 million Gulf Stream 4, that's basically the equivalent of Warner Bros. building a $35 million new building.''

The airport has an opposite interest.

In the 1996-97 fiscal year, the airport received $2,757,373 in landing fees from commercial jets, down slightly each year from $2,811,896 in the 1994-95 fiscal year.

The airport does not levy any landing fees on private planes. Unlike the city, it does not collect any property tax income from them.

Gill said, however, that the airport has no financial bias but is simply trying to trim noise wherever it can.

``We've made most of the improvement we can make on the commercial side of the equation,'' the airport's Gill said. ``The question is how much more improvement we can make dealing with the fact of corporate activity.''

CAPTION(S):

photo, 3 charts

Photo: A corporate jet is parked in front of Media Aviation, which is located west of the sorth-south rundway at Burbank Airport.

Chart: (1) Estimated 1998 jet flights (estimate based on actual operation from May 1996 through April 1997)

John McCoy/Daily News

(2) Private stage 2 jet flights (estimate based on actual operation from May 1996 through April 1997)

(3) Airplane noise footprints by distance