Surf City to get chance to air flight concerns

Jenny Marder

Surf City residents irritated by noisy planes soaring overhead to and

from Long Beach Airport will get a chance to vent their frustration

during a community meeting next week.

Officials from the Federal Aviation Administration, Jet Blue

Airlines and the Long Beach Airport will attend the July 31 meeting

to provide information and answer questions about flight patterns,

aircraft altitude levels and air traffic noise.

North Huntington resident Robert Seidel plans to ask whether the

commercial planes could fly at a higher altitude to cut back on

noise. The loud screeching of planes wakes up Seidel’s 3-year-old

daughter, he said, and disturbs her sleep pattern. He also wants to

know whether planes could change their flight path to avoid

residential areas.

“The noise is the biggest problem,” Seidel said. “If they were a

little higher, they might not be as loud.”

Next week’s meeting is a follow-up to an April 21 City Council

study session led by Long Beach Airport officials that triggered a

stream of questions and complaints about noise pollution and

low-flying planes from folks who live underneath the airport’s flight

path.

“After we had the community meeting, there were lots of

questions,” said Sharon Diggs-Jackson, spokeswoman for the Long Beach

Airport. “We made a commitment that we would identify representatives

from FAA and Jet Blue that could come and answer their specific

questions.”

The Long Beach Airport has grown so quickly over the past two

years that it has been dubbed the fastest growing airport in the

country, Long Beach Airport Manager Kris Kunze said at the April

meeting. Airline capacity has more than doubled since 2001, thanks to

the arrival of Jet Blue Airlines, which snatched up all of the

available slots.

Since April, the number of daily commercial flights for planes

exceeding 75,000 pounds has jumped from 37 to 40. The cap is now set

at 41.

“We don’t expect to be at 41 until December,” Diggs-Jackson said.

Nance Neilan, a 16-year resident, is another among those who has

noticed the increasing flight activity, and she, too, wants to find

out from officials if there’s any way to muffle the noise. Even with

double-paned windows, she says, she can hear the planes overhead.

“I love leaving from the Long Beach Airport because it’s so

convenient,” she said. “But if they just weren’t so loud.”

The meeting will be held at 7 p.m. July 31 in rooms C and D of the

Huntington Central Library, at 7111 Talbert Avenue. For more

information, contact Diggs-Jackson at (562) 570-2636.