Valley Residents Angry After Court Rejects Burbank Airport Review

STUDIO CITY, CA — A Studio City neighborhood group is decrying a Tuesday court decision denying a request for Hollywood Burbank Airport to revert to its old flight plans.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals denied a request from the City of Los Angeles, the Benedict Hills Estates Association, and the Benedict Hills Homeowners Association to review a plan to change new flight paths that residents of the southeast Valley say have become too noisy.

A three-judge panel ruled that the court lacked the authority to review the city’s complaint against the Federal Aviation Administration because a letter from the FAA to the city did not constitute a “final order.” Appeals courts can only adjudicate orders from government agencies if they are deemed “final.”

“The FAA Letter did not express a definitive agency position,” the Tuesday decision states. “The FAA Letter does not make a definitive statement of the agency’s position. It comments briefly upon an earlier statement made by the City, and it does so to the effect that the agency position remains what it was.”

The court noted that it may review a future appeal.

Studio City for Quiet Skies, which for years has been a vocal opponent of the new flight plans, said in an eBlast that the Court “rejected the petition without addressing the merits.”

“The Court, in its customary deference to the FAA, denied the changes that were made to the 100,000 people whose lives were drastically altered 4 years ago when the FAA suddenly moved the flight path over them,” the group wrote, and said that it will confer with another neighborhood group UproarLA to move forward.

The group, along with several other residents of Sherman Oaks, Encino, Toluca Lake and other communities in the Burbank Airport flight path, have long fought a series of new paths out of the airport that result from a new FAA satellite system called NextGen Metroplex.

Historically, Burbank flights have flown south and then turned west over the 101 Freeway. But new flights out of the airport have flown south toward the Santa Monica Mountains. Similar issues have arisen from Valley residents living in the new flight paths of Van Nuys Airport.

The city later charged that the FAA had “admitted to changing flight procedures” and was intentionally directing some flights to head south before turning north.

The FAA has said that any path changes are due to weather, pilots, and traffic, and do not constitute a permanent change. It has said it will continue to analyze the environmental impacts of all its paths.

The Southern San Fernando Airplane Noise Task Force, comprised of local and state officials representing the affected area, voted to send a series of recommendations to the FAA to alleviate noise concerns.

In July, Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer sued the agency over allegations of an incomplete environmental review process for the Burbank Airport’s proposed replacement passenger terminal, according to the Daily Breeze.