Does Ocean Beach Have to Take All the Helicopters? LA Isn’t.

The sounds of low-flying helicopters over Ocean Beach and Point Loma have been an occasional sore-spot among some of our bloggers.  We’d raise more questions than answers, for example, Judi Curry queried as a troubled insomniac:

It almost appears that there is a heliport only blocks from the house, because nightly there are any number of helicopters that fly over the house at all hours of the late night and early morning. Helicopters that are loud; noise polluters; and wake people from deep as well as fitful sleep.

So…what are they doing here? Why are they flying over the house to go to the ocean? Where did they come from? What are they looking for? And why must they fly over the area at 1:00, 2:00, 3:00am?

In checking with the Airport Noise Control, I was told that these helicopters are coming from North Island. If that is so, then the question again arises: why are they coming over land?

Six months later, in a subsequent post, Judi wrote: The helicopters are still making their early morning run over Ocean Beach.

And in that column, after Judi outlined her complaint once again, she issued a call for other OBceans and Point Lomans to follow her lead and make calls and complain:

I can’t tell you how many times, just in the last week, I was awakened by the sound of helicopters overhead between the hours of 11:30pm and 6:30am. When I did a small investigation of why this is happening, I was told that there were several reasons: One, there are more “drug boaters” – what else do you call them – that are bringing drugs onto our shores between Coronado and Oceanside. Then I was told that there is also the military doing training at night. And another reason, I was told, was because of the News Helicopters chasing a story.

That’s all well and good. But can someone tell me why they have to fly over our houses to get to the Pacific Ocean, night after night after night? Some of the copters are, I was told, Coast Guard helicopters. They take off from San Diego Bay; some are military taking off from North Island; some take off from Brown Field; some take off from Miramar and even more astounding, some take off from Montgomery Field. All of these helicopters training over our coastline? Doesn’t sound very safe to me.

So…I now have a telephone number that we can call to register our complaints. One is the FAA in the regional office in Los Angeles. That office covers San Diego too. Their telephone number is 1-310-725-3550. There is another number to call also and that is close to Montgomery Field. That number is 1-858-502-9882. I was also told it is ok to call the FAA number to report noisy aircraft and register a complaint. (Wish I had known that number yesterday, the 15th at 9:04am and this morning, the 16th at 7:40am.)

Unless we as a community complain, the noise is going to get worse. Many voices are more effective than just one – or two – every few days.

With this “call” – Judi hit a home run. She received over 60 comments and lots of internet traffic – which demonstrates to blog editors that there’s a lot of interest out there on this issue.

But much like issues in Southern California, they pass with the waves and the wind.  And OB hasn’t had a public discussion of helicopters and their noise for awhile

But that doesn’t mean other communities aren’t dealing with the very same problem.

Los Angeleanos Force Politicos To Deal With Helicopters

FAA officials and politicians got an earful last week when several hundred LA County residents crammed a public hearing, demanding that Congress and the Federal Aviation Administration do something about constant helicopter flights over their neighborhoods.

Residents from across LA – for two hours – vented about the noisy aircraft in front of Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Valley Village)- who had called the public hearing in Sherman Oaks – and top members of the FAA, including William C. Withycombe – who is the regional administrator for California and three other Western states.

People in the audience told the hearing officials that they’d had enough of helicopters, of being shaken to the core, had enough of the thump-thump-thump of the rotators, they’d had enough of both public and private helicopters cutting through their communities, of news helicopters chasing crime scenes, of tourist and paparazzi (remember this is LA). Recently, a copter had buzzed the Hollywood Bowl, interrupting a concert violinist (“an outrage,” said Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky). The Bowl gets helos up to 9 a night.

Bob Anderson of the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Association told the official:

“Media, tour operators and paparazzi – these combine to provide significant activity and noise pollution. Enforceable, legal restrictions are necessary.”

According to the LA Times, there are fewer restrictions on helicopters than airplanes. {lanes must fly at an altitude of at least 1,000 feet above heavily populated areas and 500 feet over less congested areas, but the copters do not have to comply with the minimum requirements if they don’t endanger lives or property.  “Unlike airplanes, helicopters are mostly unregulated,” said Berman.

Someone else was listening as well. On Tuesday, August 14th, the LA City Council  backed legislation that would allow the FAA to increase the regulation of helicopter flights across the county. They endorsed Rep Berman’s bill, which if passed by Congress, would direct the FAA to establish flight paths for helicopters and set minimum altitudes at which they can operate over certain areas of the county.

(The following sources were used:  Contra Costa Times, August 6, 2012;  LAT August 8, 2012 ; LAT August 14, 2012 ;