Burbank Airport Noise

It is heartening to read an article such as “FAA Study for Burbank is Just Noise,” Nov. 15. The airport authority has given local residents no reason to believe that its “good faith” efforts are good for anything besides expansion and increased noise.

It is frustrating that local communities have been battling the airport for so long with so little result. It is maddening to know that there are so many steps the airport authority could take to mitigate its noise impact.

Here are a few:

Mandatory curfew.

Take off over the Sherman Way commercial / industrial corridor to the west, instead of over residential housing (this corridor is currently used for landing). Achieve the highest possible altitude on takeoff (some airliners fly so low over us that the house shakes).

Prohibit the use of MD-80s; these turkeys are the loudest and should never be allowed to take off over residences.

These are a few suggestions for starters. If the airlines think any of these measures would cost them money, then they should charge a slightly higher fare. This should be a small price to pay for local airport convenience that exacts a heavy toll on local residents in terms of quality of life.

Other Southern California airports have flight patterns over populated areas. They have been known to implement strict curfews and modify flight patterns to mitigate their impact.

The Burbank Airport Authority doesn’t seem to have the will to accomplish such flight restrictions. It is up to local residents and their elected representatives to fight for reasonable measures to preserve our neighborhoods.

My wife and I live in Studio City, which is several miles from the airport. The airport’s impact on our community is tremendous. We are subjected to regular commercial and private jet overflights leaving Burbank from 6:40 a.m. until they finally end about 10 p.m. It is bad enough to endure this noisy barrage, but on some nights we are awakened by jet aircraft thundering overhead at midnight or even 3 a.m.

Burbank officials have my sincerest thanks for their efforts to extract some sensibility from the airport authority.

MARTIN BRINER, Studio City