Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

La Jollans not soothed by airport authority

"You are retrofitting homes so people can stay inside."

Residents were encouraged to document flights roaring over their homes using an app called Webtrak.
Residents were encouraged to document flights roaring over their homes using an app called Webtrak.

A woman from Loma Portal turned to the 40 or so La Jolla residents who came to a meeting Wednesday night (February 16) on Harbor Drive to complain about low-flying and late air traffic from Lindbergh Field. "Welcome to our world," she said. "Sorry that you've joined us."

Late last year, the Federal Aviation Administration changed flight paths out of San Diego to reduce fuel and make the airport more efficient. About 275 flights arrive at Lindbergh Field every day, according to FAA statistics. The FAA decided that the impact of the changes is "of no significant impact."

Sponsored
Sponsored

La Jolla residents don't see it that way. Their concerns are with noise that is being attributed to so-called early turns, when aircraft flying out of San Diego International Airport turn off the course set by the FAA to try to contain the noise of jet engines pushing hard to gain altitude. But they say they count far more loud aircraft every day than match the relatively low number of early turns.

"The noise we hear is not isolated incidents," said Maria Jenness, who lives in La Jolla. "It's one after another after another. It's constant noise. Every three, four, five minutes there's an airplane. There was one that came so close that I could read the logo on the tail: it was Southwest."

More planes violated curfew by taking off or landing after 11:30 p.m. and before 6:30 a.m. in 2016 than ever before: 86. If the numbers from January 2017 — when 8 missed curfew — are an indicator, 2017 may break that record. Fines for curfew violations also set a new record, with airlines fined $564,000 for those violations. That's almost four times the previous year's fines.

But the curfew violations seem to be a small part of the problem in La Jolla.

"About 100 flights leave the airport every day and fly over Bird Rock and a hundred go over La Jolla Shores," La Jolla resident Leonard Gross said. "This may require a rethink of what it means when we talk about airport noise."

La Jollans say that more aircraft are flying over La Jolla on the way out — they don't believe it's just curfew violators and early turns. The airport recorded 1566 complaints from Bird Rock in December and January, though 1086 came from a single household. Part of the problem, they say, is that La Jolla's topography forms a natural amphitheater where the noise rebounds and echoes, causing "cascading noise."

"We are not talking about missed turns, we're talking about a systemic problem,” resident Matthew Price said. "You have a thousand noise complaints from La Jolla where last year you had none."

The San Diego County Regional Airport Authority can't tell the airlines and the FAA how to run their business, facilitator Heidi Gantwerk cautioned. She encouraged residents to continue to thoroughly document the flights that are roaring over their homes using an app called Webtrak. But that suggestion led to a debate of how accurate the app is, since it shows most of the flights going over Point Loma and Mission Beach.

Although La Jolla residents may now be eligible for the airport authority's Quieter Home program, which provides sound-muffling doors and windows, Beatriz Pardo was not impressed.

"You are retrofitting homes so people can stay inside," she said. "But this is a beach community, an outdoors community," she said. "Telling us to stay inside where you can make it quiet destroys our quality of life."

(corrected 2/17, 5:10 p.m.)

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

San Diego Dim Sum Tour, Warwick’s Holiday Open House

Events November 24-November 27, 2024
Residents were encouraged to document flights roaring over their homes using an app called Webtrak.
Residents were encouraged to document flights roaring over their homes using an app called Webtrak.

A woman from Loma Portal turned to the 40 or so La Jolla residents who came to a meeting Wednesday night (February 16) on Harbor Drive to complain about low-flying and late air traffic from Lindbergh Field. "Welcome to our world," she said. "Sorry that you've joined us."

Late last year, the Federal Aviation Administration changed flight paths out of San Diego to reduce fuel and make the airport more efficient. About 275 flights arrive at Lindbergh Field every day, according to FAA statistics. The FAA decided that the impact of the changes is "of no significant impact."

Sponsored
Sponsored

La Jolla residents don't see it that way. Their concerns are with noise that is being attributed to so-called early turns, when aircraft flying out of San Diego International Airport turn off the course set by the FAA to try to contain the noise of jet engines pushing hard to gain altitude. But they say they count far more loud aircraft every day than match the relatively low number of early turns.

"The noise we hear is not isolated incidents," said Maria Jenness, who lives in La Jolla. "It's one after another after another. It's constant noise. Every three, four, five minutes there's an airplane. There was one that came so close that I could read the logo on the tail: it was Southwest."

More planes violated curfew by taking off or landing after 11:30 p.m. and before 6:30 a.m. in 2016 than ever before: 86. If the numbers from January 2017 — when 8 missed curfew — are an indicator, 2017 may break that record. Fines for curfew violations also set a new record, with airlines fined $564,000 for those violations. That's almost four times the previous year's fines.

But the curfew violations seem to be a small part of the problem in La Jolla.

"About 100 flights leave the airport every day and fly over Bird Rock and a hundred go over La Jolla Shores," La Jolla resident Leonard Gross said. "This may require a rethink of what it means when we talk about airport noise."

La Jollans say that more aircraft are flying over La Jolla on the way out — they don't believe it's just curfew violators and early turns. The airport recorded 1566 complaints from Bird Rock in December and January, though 1086 came from a single household. Part of the problem, they say, is that La Jolla's topography forms a natural amphitheater where the noise rebounds and echoes, causing "cascading noise."

"We are not talking about missed turns, we're talking about a systemic problem,” resident Matthew Price said. "You have a thousand noise complaints from La Jolla where last year you had none."

The San Diego County Regional Airport Authority can't tell the airlines and the FAA how to run their business, facilitator Heidi Gantwerk cautioned. She encouraged residents to continue to thoroughly document the flights that are roaring over their homes using an app called Webtrak. But that suggestion led to a debate of how accurate the app is, since it shows most of the flights going over Point Loma and Mission Beach.

Although La Jolla residents may now be eligible for the airport authority's Quieter Home program, which provides sound-muffling doors and windows, Beatriz Pardo was not impressed.

"You are retrofitting homes so people can stay inside," she said. "But this is a beach community, an outdoors community," she said. "Telling us to stay inside where you can make it quiet destroys our quality of life."

(corrected 2/17, 5:10 p.m.)

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Poway’s schools, faced with money squeeze, fined for voter mailing

$105 million bond required payback of nearly 10 times that amount
Next Article

Raging Cider & Mead celebrates nine years

Company wants to bring America back to its apple-tree roots
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader