The Los Angeles World Airports Board of Commissioners directed staff to conduct a study related to banning certain jet aircraft from Van Nuys Airport. The decision came during a lengthy meeting July 17 during which the commissioners heard impassioned pleas on why a ban should or should not be implemented. The study would include an analysis of the economic impacts of phasing out the use of Stage 2 aircrafts, a move some businesspeople said would harm their livelihood. Van Nuys Airport is the world’s busiest general aviation airport and home to more than 100 companies that serve the aviation industry. In 1990, the commission adopted a resolution to phase out Stage 2 aircrafts over a seven-year period but the action was never implemented. Residents in the area of the airport have pressed for the ban saying the loud jets disturb their quality of life. There are currently 34 Stage 2 aircrafts at the airport. Clay Lacy Aviation, the oldest aircraft management firm at the airport, owns 10 of the Stage 2 aircrafts, said Duke Tonry, director of air medical operations. Replacing those aircrafts would be financially impractical, Tonry said. “When we look at our future, our staff and our employees, if these rules are adopted 60 middle class people who work for us will be unemployed,” Tonry told the commissioners. Stage 2 is a designation by the Federal Aviation Administration for aircrafts with a certain noise level when operating. Stage 1 aircrafts are banned in the United States while Stage 3 aircrafts are the quietest. Manufacturers stopped making Stage 2 aircrafts in 1986.
