RESIDENT SEEKS FINES FOR VAN NUYS AIRPORT NOISE VIOLATORS.

Byline: Jason Kandel Staff Writer

VAN NUYS - Citing loud jets that fly over Van Nuys Airport despite a fly neighborly policy, a resident who lives near the airport urged officials Tuesday to recommend assessing fines to penalize the worst violators.

``I want to see the (Citizens Advisory Council) recommend fines or exclusion from the airport for violating the Fly Friendly program,'' said Gerald A. Silver, president of Homeowners of Encino, who spoke at a Van Nuys Airport Advisory Committee meeting Tuesday night. ``A voluntary fly neighborly policy like this is like the police giving speeding tickets with no penalties. It has no impact. It doesn't reduce the noise.''

Van Nuys Airport officials came up with the Fly Neighborly Program in 1994 as a way to help stem complaints from residents about the loud jets. The program was expected to help reduce noise from a 1.8-square-mile area to a 1-square-mile area.

A test by an independent noise consultant, however, found that the noise impact area was only reduced to 1.3 square miles. And the homeowners have since tracked hundreds of aviators over a two-year period who have been issued citation letters for flying jets that were too loud. Some aviators have been issued as many as 50 citations.

Silver recommended a $1,000 fine for aviators who violate the policy five times. If they do it two or three times after that, the aviator should be banned from the airport for a year, Silver said.

But Robert Rodine, a member of the Airport Citizens Advisory Council, who is opposed to assesing fines to penalize violators of the Fly Neighborly Program, said the airport already has a noise ordinance in place, and that fining aviators under a voluntary program will not work.

``The Fly Friendly Program is a voluntary program and as such it would be wholly inappropriate to have fines,'' he said. ``The community was involved in the development of that voluntary program and now they're saying it is unsatisfactory.''

Another Citizens Advisory Council member, Harry Berg, said Tuesday that the Airport Authority has no power to penalize aviators.

``Get it out of your head,'' he said. ``This is never going to happen. The only people who have the authority to do this is the federal government.''

Residents also voiced their concerns Tuesday night over the droning of helicopter noise over their homes early in the morning and late at night. Some suggested imposing a curfew on the choppers from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m., flying at higher altitudes, and complying with flying over industrial areas, not residential areas.