Pilots at Bob Hope Airport (BUR) in Burbank, Calif., may soon be facing a mandatory curfew.
The Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority is petitioning the FAA to allow the airport to restrict night-time traffic as a means of curtailing noise complaints. The proposal comes after an eight-year noise study done through FAR Part 161. The airport has had a voluntary curfew in place for several years.
On Monday Feb. 2, the airport authority’s commissioners voted unanimously to submit the proposal to the FAA. If the FAA finds the paperwork complete, it will be reviewed for 150 days.
The proposal calls for banning flights from 10 p.m. until 6:59 a.m. with the exception of emergency medical, law enforcement or military flights. Aircraft with declared in-flight emergencies also would be exempt from the curfew. The proposal makes allowances for aircraft delayed by weather, mechanical problems or air traffic control by having a one-hour grace period from 10 p.m. through 10:59 p.m.
Curfew violators would be penalized with a series of escalating fines. After the fourth violation in a 12-month period, the airport authority would ban the violator’s operations at the airport for one year.
Airport officials maintain that the curfew would produce $67.2 million in benefits and $55.42 million in costs.
For more information: www.BurbankAirport.com/Part161/index.html.