RECONSIDERATION OF LAAHNC PETITION FAA-2015-5041 – Special Federal Aviation 

Regulation (SFAR) for Los Angeles County Helicopter Minimum Altitudes

Los Angeles Area Helicopter Noise Coalition (LAAHNC) 1 of 8

Los Angeles Area Helicopter Noise Coalition (LAAHNC)

Post Office Box 571448

Tarzana, CA 91357-1448

Please provide all replies and communications regard this matter to:

David Garfinkle, (818) 307-5080, email: drgarfinkle@sbcglobal.net

June 17, 2016

US Department of Transportation – Document Operations

1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE 

West Building Ground Floor

Room W12-140

Washington, DC 20590

RECONSIDERATION OF LAAHNC PETITION FAA-2015-5041

SPECIAL FEDERAL AVIATION REGULATION (SFAR) FOR LOS ANGELES COUNTY

HELICOPTER MINIMUM ALTITUDES

On May 20, 2016, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) notified the Los Angeles Area 

Helicopter Noise Coalition (LAAHNC) that it was dismissing our petition (FAA-2015-5041) to 

minimum helicopter altitudes over noise sensitive areas of Los Angeles County. The purpose of this 

letter is to petition the FAA to reconsider its dismissal. 

CFR §11.73 lists the following criteria the FAA considers when evaluating a petition:

1) The immediacy of the safety or security concerns you raise;

2) The priority of other issues the FAA must deal with; and

3) The resources we have available to address these issues.

The FAA dismissal letter states, “After reviewing your request based on the current priorities for the 

FAA and the guidelines found in §11.73, we determined the issue you raised does not meet the criteria 

to pursue rulemaking at this time.” There is no discussion as to what the FAA’s “current priorities” are 

or where the issue of helicopter noise stands on the priority list. There is also no mention of lack of 

resources. But, it seems the main reason for the dismissal is that the FAA does not consider the issue of 

reducing helicopter noise in the Los Angeles County to be a high priority. 

Under 14 CFR § 11.101, for the FAA to accept this petition for reconsideration, we must show the 

following:

(a) That we have a significant additional fact and why we did not present it in our original petition;

(b) That the FAA made an important factual error in its denial of our original petition; or

(c) That the FAA did not correctly interpret a law, regulation, or precedent.

The FAA has very narrow grounds for accepting a request for reconsideration and they do not allow us 

to question its priorities. However, at the end of its four-page letter the FAA also states that, “For the 

reasons above, we are dismissing your petition for rulemaking in accordance with 14 CFR §11.73.” 

The “reasons above” include a number of statements that seem to relate to the merits of our petition. 

Accordingly, we submit the following comments in support of our request for reconsideration. These 

comments consist of delineation of the factual errors in the FAA dismissal of our petition.
RECONSIDERATION OF LAAHNC PETITION FAA-2015-5041 – Special Federal Aviation 

Regulation (SFAR) for Los Angeles County Helicopter Minimum Altitudes

Los Angeles Area Helicopter Noise Coalition (LAAHNC) 2 of 8

The Los Angeles Area Helicopter Noise Coalition believes that the FAA has made a number of 

important factual errors in denial of our Petition FAA-2015-5401. Note our discussion of the factual 

errors, in italics after the various statements containing those factual errors.

Factual Errors

Fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters operate under VFR or IFR conditions while in flight. Aircraft 

under VFR are flown primarily by reference to visual cues outside the cockpit (e.g., horizon, buildings, 

rivers, highways, etc.) for orientation and navigation, and to maintain separation from terrain and other 

aircraft. Aircraft under IFR rely on instruments that allow pilots to operate them in poor visibility and 

at higher altitudes. Most helicopters operate under VFR which means that it is the pilot's responsibility 

to “see and avoid” other traffic, terrain, or obstacles. Simply speaking, the pilot is responsible for the 

safe operation of the aircraft, while ATC is responsible for the overall safety and efficiency of the 

airspace. Although air traffic controllers may provide traffic advisory service to VFR flights (workload 

permitting), this does not replace a pilot's duty to “see and avoid.” Many of the helicopter operations in 

Los Angeles County occur in Class G Airspace. Additionally, 14 CFR §91.119(d) authorizes helicopter 

pilots to operate below the altitude minimums over congested or other areas as long as the operation is 

conducted without hazard to persons or property on the surface.”

LAAHNC Comment: Fixed wing aircraft currently operate VFR in this complex airspace and are 

required to fly at least 1,000 feet above ground level. Even the helicopter industry’s long standing (and

somewhat out of date) noise abatement program (Fly Neighborly Guide published by the Helicopter 

Association International or HAI) recommends that helicopter pilots fly at least 1,000 feet above 

ground level when flying over noise sensitive areas. In addition, the more recent HAI publications 

state that the “acceptable” noise level differs between low and high ambient noise environments and 

that helicopters should fly higher than 1,000 feet over low ambient noise areas (which would include 

scores of residential areas in Los Angeles County). Moreover, the FAA’s own advisory (AC 91-36D) 

recommends that all aircraft fly at least 2,000 feet above ground level, whenever possible, over noise 

sensitive areas, including residential. Currently, on occasion, helicopter pilots observe these 

guidelines when flying in Los Angeles County, so it can and is being done. On the other hand, Los 

Angeles residents have no choice but to accept a very high volume of low flying helicopters engaged in 

law enforcement. They are providing a needed public service. However, there are too many low flying 

civilian helicopters which residents should not have to tolerate. If the FAA cannot figure out how to get 

civilian helicopters to share the same airspace (up to 2000 feet above ground level) with slower 

moving planes, the helicopter noise problem in Los Angeles County will never be resolved and 

residents will continue to be plagued by extremely large numbers of “unacceptable” helicopter flights.

“The FAA established a collaborative process which included your organization and local helicopter 

operators beginning in 2012 until the spring of 2015 which evaluated whether helicopters could safely 

fly at higher altitudes within Los Angeles County given its unique geographic, topographic and climate 

limitations.”

LAAHNC Comment: After the last meeting on June 10, 2015, LAAHNC was never invited back for any 

further general meetings with the helicopter industry. By then, it had become apparent that the 

industry had no intention of collaborating with the LAAHNC, a group that represents the citizens 

whose schools, residences, and other noise sensitive venues are constantly subjected to excessive 

helicopter noise.
RECONSIDERATION OF LAAHNC PETITION FAA-2015-5041 – Special Federal Aviation 

Regulation (SFAR) for Los Angeles County Helicopter Minimum Altitudes

Los Angeles Area Helicopter Noise Coalition (LAAHNC) 3 of 8

“The volume and complexity of fixed wing aircraft transitioning in various stages of flight (approach, 

departure, en route) prohibits the establishment of a county wide minimum helicopter altitude of 

2,000 feet above ground level.”

“The majority of helicopter operations in Los Angeles County operate under visual flight rules where 

the pilot in command chooses a safe altitude to “see and avoid” other aircraft and ground obstacles. 

Helicopters inherently operate at slower speeds than faster moving fixed wing aircraft and safety 

requires helicopters to be segregated from the faster moving aircraft. Requiring helicopters to fly at 

higher altitudes would negatively impact the safety of the National Airspace System (NAS) by placing 

helicopters in conflict with other aircraft and would increase the chance of a mid-air collision.”

LAAHNC Comment: These general statements sound plausible on the surface, but under closer 

scrutiny they are questionable. First, Helicopters are not “required” to be segregated from other 

aircraft. If it were really unsafe for helicopters to fly in the same airspace as planes, there would be a 

regulation prohibiting them from doing so. But, there is no such regulation. Helicopters can and do fly 

in the same airspace as planes at lower altitudes (especially under 2,500 feet). Second, helicopter 

speeds are comparable to many popular planes used in general aviation. The most common plane in 

use for general aviation in this area is most likely the Cessna 172, which has a cruise speed of 

140 mph. Note that the Cessna 172 is not the slowest plane. For example, cruise speeds of other 

popular planes are: Beechcraft Muskateer 117 mph, Grumman American AA-5 125 mph, and Piper 

Cherokee PA-28 124 mph. The most common helicopter in use in this area is most likely the Robinson 

R44, which has a cruise speed of 130 mph; the Robinson 44 is not the fastest helicopter. The cruise 

speeds of helicopters are not that different from the cruise speeds of slower planes. Yet, we do not hear 

anyone saying the Cessna 172, or any of the other slow flying planes, cannot fly at 2,000 feet above 

ground level. In addition, common sense would indicate that, in general, flying slower should be more 

likely to reduce the chance of a mid-air collision rather than flying faster. In keeping with that 

principle, the FAA has maximum speed limits in airspace near airports.

“Helicopter operators have voluntarily adjusted the altitudes of aircraft flying over the Hollywood Sign 

and Griffith Park area as much as feasibly possible without compromising the safety of operations.”

LAAHNC Comment: The helicopter operators have made little or no attempt to fly higher in the 

Hollywood sign and Griffith park area; note, for instance, the 85 incidents on one day of helicopter 

flights between 200 and 900 feet above ground level over the Griffith Park area in 14 hours on 

February 13, 2016 (see the Attachment 1).

Significant Progress and Improvements

“Although the FAA cannot at this time conduct rulemaking for the specific petition requested, it has 

taken important steps that further voluntary action on the part of operators, residents, and other 

stakeholders. The FAA and the stakeholder working groups have made significant progress on each of 

the six actions specified in the 2014 Consolidated Appropriations Act, Public Law No. 113-76 

(January 3, 2014).”

LAAHNC Comment: This is simply not true. See the details below and in our attached letter, dated 

May14, 2015, submitted in response to the FAA document, dated January 16, 2015, claiming 

significant progress in all six actions specified.

“The FAA is committed to working with stakeholders as they further mature and formulate additional 

voluntary measures. Significant resources have been expended to analyze how helicopters integrate 

into the complex airspace of Los Angeles County, including developing new methodology and tools to 
RECONSIDERATION OF LAAHNC PETITION FAA-2015-5041 – Special Federal Aviation 

Regulation (SFAR) for Los Angeles County Helicopter Minimum Altitudes

Los Angeles Area Helicopter Noise Coalition (LAAHNC) 4 of 8

identify helicopter flight tracks. Gaining a better understanding of existing helicopter operations was a 

necessary first step in evaluating existing helicopter routes and altitudes, and the FAA shared its workin-progress with stakeholders through detailed briefings and working group sessions. With this 

foundation, the FAA and stakeholders have made progress in identifying route adjustments that could 

lessen impacts on residential areas and noise-sensitive landmarks while avoiding shifting noise from 

one residential neighborhood to another. Specifically the FAA has developed specific beacon codes for 

use in Los Angeles County to enhance safety by distinguishing helicopters from fixed wing aircraft 

and increasing situational awareness of pilots and air traffic controllers;”

LAAHNC Comment: These beacon codes are strictly voluntary and simply not generally being used.

Code 1206 is supposed to be used by first responders, 1205 by others. Yet analysis of several months of 

data shows very few 1206 or 1205 codes. The overwhelming majority of flights show no call sign at 

all; the vast majority of those that do broadcast a beacon code use the 1200 code. As an example, 

analysis of the individual WebTrak data in the San Fernando Valley shows that the majority of 

complaints are for helicopters using code 1200 while the tracks themselves most likely indicate LAPD. 

“Has completed extensive in-depth analysis of adherence to existing helicopter routes and potential for 

route adjustments for the Hollywood, Torrance, Palos Verdes, and Long Beach areas;”

LAAHNC Comment: Somewhat true, but the results of the analysis clearly indicate that pilots are 

simply ignoring the suggested route adjustments in all area. As an example, Redondo Avenue is a 

major helicopter corridor in Long Beach and receives approximately 30 percent of all helicopter 

traffic in the city. Pilots routinely fly from the airport southwest to the Queen Mary, the oil islands, 

Catalina, or to the port or fly south-east to Seal Beach and Orange County. Instead of flying over 

Redondo Avenue which is a four lane street, helicopter pilots routinely “cut the corner” and fly over 

homes and schools.

In 2013, Ron Reeves, Noise and Environmental Officer for the Long Beach Airport, issued an 

“Analysis of Helicopter Operations South of the Long Beach Airport.” The airport staff analyzed 

helicopter operations that use the Redondo helicopter route and collected data on flight tracks, 

altitudes, short-term noise measurements and community complaints. It was noted that approximately 

4,900 helicopter flights annually fly over the homes and schools near Redondo Avenue and that pilots 

consistently flew over Horace Mann Elementary School. Noise monitors near the school noted two 

flight school helicopters within a five-minute time frame at 72.5 dBA maximum noise level. Each and 

every day, helicopter flights interrupt both indoor and outdoor instruction at Horace Mann despite 

repeated requests for pilots to avoid the school by flying directly over Redondo Avenue.

The Long Beach Airport staff completed a study in April 2016 that compared the 2013 data to 2015 

data and found that no progress had been made in mitigating the noise levels over the residences or 

over Horace Mann Elementary School during this two-year period. Altitudes remained unchanged (on 

average of 640 feet above sea level) and pilots routinely fly as low as 200 to 500 feet over the school.

This comparison study clearly shows that voluntary measures and collaboration have been ineffective 

and have done nothing to protect the homeowners, teachers and children from the negative impact of 

helicopter noise. The Long Beach Airport study is clear ... there has been no improvement in 

mitigating noise levels despite fourteen separate meetings with pilots, FAA representatives, residents 

and local city officials. Voluntary measures and collaboration have done nothing to improve helicopter 

noise in Long Beach.

A second example is the Cahuenga Pass and Griffith Park area, where extensive analyses were 

conducted by the FAA’s Seattle team under the supervision of Clark Desing. In response to the 
RECONSIDERATION OF LAAHNC PETITION FAA-2015-5041 – Special Federal Aviation 

Regulation (SFAR) for Los Angeles County Helicopter Minimum Altitudes

Los Angeles Area Helicopter Noise Coalition (LAAHNC) 5 of 8

complicated traffic in this area, one of the recommendations published in a presentation to LAAHNC 

and pilots is that helicopters fly on the chart-designated route, which in this case is the Hollywood 

Freeway. Yet, tour helicopters opt to get a bit closer to the Hollywood Sign and the Griffith 

Observatory. As they do, the uplifted terrain of the Eastern Santa Monica Mountains brings them more 

than 1,000 feet closer to ground level than over the freeway, with serious impacts to hillside residents 

and recreationists in this wilderness park.

“Has provided stakeholder briefings to review and explain the results of the in-depth analysis; and has 

identified a new voluntary offshore route based on analysis of coastal air traffic and stakeholder input.”

LAAHNC Comment: This is simply not true. LAAHNC agreed to discuss the FAA suggested offshore 

route of 1⁄4 mile offshore, although we expressed reservations about the lack of indication of suggested 

altitude. Instead, closed-door meetings were held between the FAA and the helicopter industry.

LAAHNC stakeholders were not invited or even advised that the discussions were taking place. The 

route has no suggested minimum altitude which not only seriously increases the noise impact on the 

shoreline communities, but is a serious safety problem as very low altitude makes it impossible to 

conduct safe autorotation landings in the case of engine failure and allows no time to choose a landing 

spot that does not endanger people along or near the shoreline. In addition the route apparently only 

covers the northern portion of the county shoreline. See the separate LAAHNC Petition Response 5044 

for further elaboration.

“The FAA is committed to continuing its evaluation of helicopter traffic in Los Angeles County and 

will continue community involvement to promote voluntary measures for noise reduction.”

“The FAA has collaborated with community representatives and helicopter operators to identify and 

promote existing best practices to reduce noise. It continues to issue Advisory NOTAMs for large 

events and encourage helicopter operators and news organizations to employ practices that reduce 

noise. The FAA and helicopter groups have taken advantage of opportunities to educate pilots and 

encourage best practices. It remains alert to the potential to use regularly scheduled meetings, 

conferences, and special events that attract helicopter pilots as well as various methods of 

communication, including printed material, Web sites, and targeted emails to increase awareness of 

noise issues and best practices to reduce noise over noise-sensitive areas.”

LAAHNC Comment: While some attempt has been made by the two primary helicopter operator 

organizations (PHPA and LAAHOA), the results have been ineffective since:

• Those “best practices” were unilaterally developed by a few members of the helicopter industry 

and do not correspond to the parameters of the Best Practices Working Group, to FAA Advisory 

Circular AC 91.36D or to the suggestions of the HAI, the international pilot association. All of 

these suggest flying at least 2000 feet above ground level unless there is a reason to do otherwise 

such as weather or airport ingress and egress traffic;

• Those two organizations (PHPA and LAAHOA) represent less than half of the helicopter pilots 

flying in the county;

• Only a subset of the two organizations have attended those meetings or been advised of the 

“voluntary” measures unilaterally developed by the pilot organizations; and

• The suggested measures are extremely fragmented and do not cover the county. When asked about 

some of the suggested altitudes, Chuck Street, the primary pilot representative, did not seem to 

either be aware of the suggestions or know how they were developed.
RECONSIDERATION OF LAAHNC PETITION FAA-2015-5041 – Special Federal Aviation 

Regulation (SFAR) for Los Angeles County Helicopter Minimum Altitudes

Los Angeles Area Helicopter Noise Coalition (LAAHNC) 6 of 8

“The FAA has implemented a dedicated helicopter noise complaint system for Los Angeles County 

which consists of a dedicated web portal, radar flight tracking, and a brokering system that can route 

complaints associated with a specific airport to that airport’s noise office and forward helicopter noise 

complaints received by airports to the centralized helicopter noise portal. This system has the potential 

to form the basis of an on-going helicopter noise program. Monthly complaint review committee 

meetings are taking place between industry and your organization to discuss complaint system results 

and help make informed decisions about modifications to helicopter routes and operations.”

LAAHNC Comment: While the ACS system does provide a method to register complaints, it is now a 

full year since the Automated Complaint System (ACS) was released and it still suffers from serious 

shortfalls. We feel that the majority of these shortfalls are the result of not conducting a beta test 

before the public release of the system. LAAHNC had provided a list of suggestions for such a test, but 

it was never implemented. Some of the shortfalls, such as height above ground level (which has been 

available on other B&K systems for some time) have since been corrected, but should have been 

included in the original release. Remaining problems include:

1. Missing tracks. While there appears to be some improvement, we have found that many of the 

egregious flights we see and hear do not show up on the ACS system. In addition, WebTraks that 

do show up on the individual airport WebTrak systems do not show up on the ACS. There also 

does not appear to be effective sharing of helicopter noise complaint statistics between the ACS 

and the airports.

2. No information on type of flight. On the Van Nuys WebTrak, a significant number of flights have, 

or at least previously had, a notation of what organization is involved, particularly PD XX for 

police flights and News XX for news flights. As we are primarily trying to identify egregious 

flights by other than first responders, that information would greatly help our analysis. In 

addition, tail numbers are rarely provided, making follow-up more difficult.

3. Squawk Codes or SSR. The codes that show up on the tracks don't show any consistency or help to 

identify the type of flight. The generic 1200 code does not provide the information needed to 

identify if it is a first responder code. The designation 1206 for first responders is supposed to 

have been implemented by now, yet is rarely used, or at least rarely shows up on ACS Webtraks.

There is also often a lack of consistency between the SSR noted on the table of complaints and 

what shows up when you click on the aircraft on the WebTrak flight. As noted above, easy 

identification of first responders by a consistency of usage would greatly help our analysis.

4. Columns on the data monthly sheet. We certainly note, and appreciate, the recent addition of 

height (above ground level) indication on the WebTrak flight identification. We have asked 

whether that information could be displayed as a column on the monthly data spreadsheet for 

WebTrak-specific flights as it would greatly simplify our analysis of egregious flights

5. Complainer id. It’s useful both to us and to industry to know if the same people are complaining 

or if there are new complainers. We understand the need for anonymity, but understood that the 

complainer id would identify a specific person and that the id would remain tagged to that person 

from month to month. That’s obviously not the case. The very frequent complainer in December 

was #126, in November it was #61, in October it was #82. As these are all in the same zip code, 

our guess is they are the same person.

6. Language. While not in the original contract, it would be helpful for non-English proficient 

stakeholders to be able to report an incident using the phone-in option in several other languages, 

including Spanish, Mandarin, and Cambodian. This is particularly a problem in Long Beach 
RECONSIDERATION OF LAAHNC PETITION FAA-2015-5041 – Special Federal Aviation 

Regulation (SFAR) for Los Angeles County Helicopter Minimum Altitudes

Los Angeles Area Helicopter Noise Coalition (LAAHNC) 7 of 8

(world’s largest group of Cambodians outside of Cambodia), the San Gabriel Valley (very large 

Chinese population), and throughout the county given the very large population of native Spanish 

speakers. 

A far more serious problem is the lack of action on the part of the helicopter industry personnel on the 

ACS Committee to influence the behavior of the pilots. The agreement, reached early in our 

collaborative meetings, was that the LAAHNC personnel would identify clusters of egregious flights 

and particularly egregious individual flights. The industry personnel would then attempt to modify the 

pilot behavior to decrease the noise impact on noise sensitive areas such as residences, schools, and 

popular tourist and entertainment venues. LAANC has brought numerous examples of egregious flights 

to the attention of the Committee, including flights by helicopter tour operators, news helicopters, 

Robinson helicopter Company, and first responders. However, we get very little feedback by the 

industry representatives and little indication that the pilots are willing to initiate changes in their flight 

practices to reduce the noise impact. Specifically:

1. Tour helicopters. There has been no significant meeting with tour helicopter pilots, although the 

subject has been raised at every ACS Committee meeting this year. A meeting was held on May 5, 

but it was attended by only a handful of the helicopter tour industry involved. LAAHNC was not 

advised of the meeting until late in the evening before the meeting and invited to participate only 

in an informal after lunch chat. At that meeting the constant refrain from the representatives when 

shown an egregious example was “that was not us, it must have been someone else.” We were 

asked to provide tail numbers of the helicopters, a nearly impossible requirement since the 

WebTrak data almost never provides that information and few of us carry high powered 

binoculars with us at all times. 

2. News helicopters. There has been no meeting with news helicopters pilots although an early “best 

practices” of flying at least 2000 feet above ground level and limiting hover time was agreed to at 

the first Best Practices Working Group meeting almost two years ago.

3. Robinson helicopter. Robinson helicopter conducts test flights in the South Bay area, routinely 

flying over densely populated residential areas and schools. In addition to test flights, they 

conduct training classes on a regular basis, where pilots unfamiliar with the specific helicopter 

models fly the same dangerous, noise impacting flight paths. LAAHNC has made a number of 

suggestions to mitigate the problem, including flying on a dispersed number of flight paths, rather 

than concentrating on the same exact route, and conducting the training exercises at a more 

remote location.

The foregoing constitutes the summary that may be published in the FEDERAL REGISTER as 

provided under Subpart B.

Executed at Tarzana, California on June 17, 2016.

David R. Garfinkle

Chairman, Best Practices Working Group

Treasurer, Los Angeles Area Helicopter Noise Coalition
RECONSIDERATION OF LAAHNC PETITION FAA-2015-5041 – Special Federal Aviation 

Regulation (SFAR) for Los Angeles County Helicopter Minimum Altitudes

Los Angeles Area Helicopter Noise Coalition (LAAHNC) 8 of 8

ATTACHMENT 1

Griffith Park and surrounding hillside communities.1. Single-family hillside and canyon homes characterized by:

- very low ambient sound levels, and- canyons and steep terrain which echoes and reflects sound

2. Passive recreation in open space presents a unique land use challenge regarding sonic disturbance 3. Grifith Park is a Sensitive Ecological Area (SEA) per Los Angeles County General PlanFAA Subject Matter Expert Team Recommendations (Dec 3rd, 2014 Working Group)

A) Stay on the routes when practical (add to route chart).B) Identify Universal City as reference point (add to route chart).C) At nighttime (2300-0600), go higher by contacting ACT (add to route chart).D) FAA continues to provide data on advisory-only basis.LAAHNC position during working group sessions:- A 1500 feet minimum altitude ceiling AGL is possible on designated helicopter routes, with few exceptions.- Pilots should use chart-designated routes in the Cahuenga Pass-Griffith Park Area

Distribution of AGLs Griffith / Hollywood Sign / Observatory

February 13, 2016

 (Flights 900 AGL and less)

Note: Average AGL is 616

0

900800700600500400300200100

1000

1 4 7 10 13 16 19 22 25 28 31 34 37 40 43 46 49 52 55 58 61 64 67 70 73 76 79 82 85

AGL in Feet