Southwood Riviera Association

 

I am a resident of Walteria who is concerned about the frequency of helicopter fly-overs in South Torrance. I recently sent an email to the mayor and City Council asking them to consider changes in policy that would limit the frequency of these flights. FYI: I've pasted my email below. If you share similar concerns, I encourage you to contact our city officials and ask them not to continue to degrade our quality of life.

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Mr. Mayor and Honorable City Council Members,
 
I am a resident of the Walteria neighborhood in South Torrance. I have some questions concerning the frequency of helicopter flights over and near my house. In my opinion these flights are becoming more and more frequent and are a form of noise pollution that should be reduced and not increased. I work at home and while my house has double pane windows, I still find this noise obnoxious even when all windows are shut and I find it hard to fathom that the noise generated by these flights is not in violation of city noise limits.  I understand that many of these flights are to test helicopters built by Robinson. According to Robinson's public relations department, these test flights begin at 7:30 in the morning and cease at 3:30 in the afternoon. Unfortunately, after Robinson stops testing, the flight schools immediately take to the air. On some days, I have had helicopters flying over my house for almost 12 hours. Does 12 hours seem excessive to you?
 
I also understand that Robinson has expanded its production. More production means more helicopters and more helicopters means more testing. Will there ever be a situation in Robinson is producing too many helicopters? Or, to put it another way, on some days Robinson will fly over my house more than 20 times per hour. Does this seem excessive to you? Is there any limit on the number of times Robinson can fly over my house per hour or per day? Can I expect a day to arrive where copters will fly over my house 60 times per hour?
 
I understand the economic importance of Robinson and I would not be in favor of it closing or moving out of Torrance. I am less convinced of the importance of the flight schools. But I am curious why the city has not adopted policies that better balance Robinson's production schedule with quality of life for local residents. Here's my proposal: restrict fly overs in specific neighborhoods to one day each week. As an example, on Monday Robinson can fly over and around Walteria all day long. But on Tuesday, those flights must move to the north, south, east or west - say to Lomita. On Wednesday the flights would cover areas other than Walteria or Lomita. Same for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Why isn't such a simple system not feasible?
 
In conclusion, and again, while I support Robinson's economic contribution to the community, I still must ask these questions: how does Robinson's presence improve my quality of life and that of my neighbors? And that of people who work at home or work shifts that require them to sleep during the day? How does it increase the value of my home and that of my neighbors? Am I being too much of a NIMBY-ite to ask for a few more days of relative silence other than Sunday? I've lived in Torrance since 1969 and I hope to live here into my retirement (still many years away), it's always been a terrific place to live and I hope it remains that way

I agree it's a problem. I live in the Riviera and they come over our neighborhood on the way to and from the beach. I am drafting a petiton. Here it is so far: To: Torrance Mayor and City Council Members Re: Petition To Reduce Helicopter Noise Last year (2008) there were an estimated 8,000 helicopter flights over Torrance?’s Hollywood Riviera neighborhood. There are too many helicopters and they are making too much noise. Current helicopter flight patterns disturb the peace and quiet of our neighborhoods, interfere with our ability to hear normal conversations, television, radio and telephone, and they are annoying. We have reached the tipping point and can no longer tolerate it. Helicopters cause noise in areas that are nowhere near the Airport, affecting large numbers of people all along their routes, not only in Torrance, but also in the surrounding communities in the South Bay. According to a Letter of Agreement between helicopter operators and the Torrance Airport Traffic Control Tower, pilots are allowed to fly as low as 500?’above the ground and just beyond the surf-line at the beach. This is too low and too close to the beach. We, the affected public, were never notified and given a chance to comment on this Agreement. Sometimes there are more than 50 flights per day over Hollywood Riviera, which is normally a very quiet neighborhood. Noise tests done by a concerned citizen in this neighborhood indicate that most of the helicopter flights produce louder noise than 65 decibels (dB) and about 30% of them exceed 70 dB. To put this in perspective, 70 dB is equivalent to the sound of a vacuum cleaner at a distance of 10?’. Even the helicopter industry indicates that 65 dB is the maximum noise helicopters should make, as published in the Helicopter Association International, Fly Neighborly Guide. Furthermore, experts have indicated that, at 55 or 60 dB, noise begins to interfere with normal outdoor speech communication. The community?’s testing shows that when helicopters do fly very high and very slow, they are capable of reducing their noise impact to as low as 50 dB. One of the best ways to reduce helicopter noise impact is to fly higher. There are no FAA regulations or Air Traffic Control Tower restrictions that would prohibit them from flying higher in and around Torrance. Citizens in other areas have brought about better helicopter flight patterns. Last year, after complaints by residents in New York, legislators were able to get operators to agree to fly at 2,500?’ and stay one mile offshore when traveling the length of Long Island. The FAA and pilots control how aircraft fly. However, the City controls the Airport and can adopt noise standards and restrictions on access. The FAA encourages operators and communities to work together to develop voluntary agreements to mitigate noise impacts. Therefore, we request that the City of Torrance look into this matter, seek more input from the affected public, and take whatever action it can to reduce helicopter noise in our neighborhoods, including asking operators who lease space at the Airport to fly higher and more quietly as a condition of their leases. Respectfully, The Undersigned

The City of Torrance should post on its official website a map showing the helicopter routes and altitudes.  That way, potential home buyers can determine if the helicopter traffic will be objectionable to them. 

 

In the period 1 January 2010 through July 2010, only two helicopters flights violated the strict Torrance noise ordinance.  Both flights were made by a helicopter from Calispel, CA.  It appears that the current rules are working well.

 

Contrary to the posting above, the FAA and the Air Traffic Control Tower do have strict regulations and restrictions governing both thealtitudes and routes of both helicopters and fixed wing traffic within five nautical miles of the airport.  Helicopters in flight are very difficult to see and any proposal for them to fly within the fixed wing traffic around the airport would be a recipe for mid-air disaster.

 

 

For a map of aircraft overflights, see www.taainfo.org.