Part 150 Forecast Presented to Airport Authority

On November 19, 2012, the final draft of the Part 150 Study Noise Exposure Map Update was approved by the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority. The study will be submitted to the FAA for review and acceptance. The full final draft of the Part 150 Study is available here.

Jet airline service arrived at Burbank in the late 1960s, and there have been concerted efforts over the past 40 years to minimize the impact of noise on the surrounding communities. Bob Hope Airport’s most successful measures have been:

1. Becoming the first commercial airport in the country to require airlines to use only quieter technology “Stage 3” jets in 1987. The national noise policy enacted by Congress allowed noisier “Stage 2” jets to remain in use at other airports until 2000.
2. Minimizing the hours of operations for airline jets. Although Bob Hope Airport is a 24-hour airport, the commercial airlines have been guided by a voluntary curfew that urges them to avoid scheduling flights after 10 p.m. and before 7 a.m., even when they use the quieter Stage 3 aircraft.  Historically, more than 95% of the all airline flights have conformed to that restriction.
3. Eliminating virtually all flights by noisier jet and propeller aircraft – either airline or privately-owned – between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m.  As noted above, there is a voluntary curfew governing Stage 3 aircraft. But in 1981, the airport successfully implemented a mandatory curfew banning flights at night by jet aircraft with noise levels equal to or louder than Stage 2, and certain propeller aircraft with noise levels above approved limits.
4. Aggressively seeking federal funds to insulate schools and homes located inside the noise impact area as determined under California noise standards and federally prescribed noise studies. So far the Airport Authority has obtained and provided over $80 million in funding for insulation of five schools and nearly 1,600 residential units.

The results of these and other programs over the years have been significant.  When the Airport Authority purchased the airport from Lockheed in 1978, there were 375 acres of residential land impacted by average aircraft noise levels of 70 decibels or more (residential land affected at less than 70 decibels averaged over a 24 hour period was considered compatible with the airport under state standards in 1978). Now there is only 0.5 acre of residential land impacted at that level.

Today, state standards for compatibility have been tightened.  A house must be in an area affected by less than 65 decibels on average to be considered compatible with the airport.  Under the newer standards, there are some 20 acres of incompatible land, a 95% reduction from 1978, even though today’s standards to attain a “compatible” status are stricter than 30 years ago.

The Airport Authority has adopted a body of noise rules designed to ensure minimum intrusion of noise in surrounding communities. While the rules contain many technical provisions, their thrust is simple and direct:

1. Prevent aircraft noise impact areas from increasing beyond their levels of 1978, when the Authority purchased the airport from Lockheed.
2. Ban all flights at night by noisier Stage 2 jets or equivalent aircraft.
3. Require all airlines to fly Stage 3 jets, the quietest jets available.

Click here for the Noise Rules Summary page.

Bob Hope Airport, in conjunction with the Federal Aviation Administration, has implemented a Residential Acoustical Treatment Program (RATP) that will insulate qualfied residential units in Burbank and Los Angeles.

The Residential Acoustical Treatment Program is the result of the Federal Aviation Regulation (FAR) Part 150 Study, originally completed in 1989 and subsequently updated in 2000, that determined which neighborhoods, noise-sensitive public buildings, and local jurisdictional boundaries lie within the noise-impacted area surrounding the Airport. Facilities identified by the study are eligible to receive noise mitigation treatments funded by federal grants and local matching funds supplied by the Airport Authority.

The Authority has implemented two primary mitigation measures approved by the Part 150 Study: insulation of homes within the 65 CNEL impact area (the area where aircraft noise exceeds an average of 65 decibels over a 24 hour period); acquiring avigation easements for homes in the 65 CNEL impact area (easements allowing aircraft to fly over the home without the threat of a future lawsuit by the property owner against the Airport Authority).

Under the insulation program, consultants for the Authority design a specific treatment for each home to ensure that interior noise levels will always remain quiet enough to enjoy normal use of the home, no matter how much aircraft activity there might be.  The acoustical treatment may include door and window replacement, attic insulation, weather stripping, ventilation and air conditioning. Once designed, the treatment is installed by licensed, bonded contractors selected by the Authority.

This program is free of cost to the property owner, provided he or she grants the authority an aviation easement.

Program Guidance Letter (PGL) 12-09--Summary

To find out more about this program, contact Hilda Landaverde at (818) 842-1732, or Maggie Martinez at (818) 840-8840 ext. 2226.

The Federal Aviation Regulations contain specific sections, or “parts,” that describe how noise studies are to be conducted to improve the compatibility between airports and the sensitive land uses that surround them. Bob Hope Airport has done both a Part 150 Study and a Part 161 Study.

While the Part 150 Study process allowed the Airport to secure federal funding for home insulation, a separate process called a Part 161 Study was necessary for the Authority to be able to apply for a mandatory nighttime curfew that would be enforeceable under federal law, superseding the current voluntary airline curfew now in place.

Part 161 arose after Congress passed the Airport Noise and Capacity Act of 1990, which prevented airports from passing new noise rules such as curfews.  If an airport has reason to believe a new noise rule is justified, despite the Noise and Capacity Act, Part 161 provides a study methodology to examine the reasons why, and to provide a means to persuade the Federal Aviation Administration that an exception is warranted. No new rule can be adopted unless the Part 161 Study is successfully completed and the rule is accepted by the FAA.

Bob Hope Airport began a Part 161 Study in 2000 in pursuit of a mandatory curfew from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. The study and an application for a curfew were completed in 2009, at a cost of over $7 million, and submitted to the Federal Aviation Administration.  It was the first Part 161 Study ever accepted as “complete” by the FAA, a landmark accomplishment that attests to the difficulty involved in the endeavor.

In November 2009, the FAA issued its finding that the study did not justify the imposition of the mandatory curfew. However, the Airport Authority continues to seek new avenues that can lead to meaningful relief from nighttime aircraft noise and is currently engaging the airlines, the FAA, the City of Burbank and the local community in dialogue on that subject.

The details of the Part 161 Study are archived in the Reports and Meetings section of this website.