Flights

The number of passengers using the Bob Hope Airport in September remained flat compared to a year ago, stemming at least temporarily a downward spiral in traffic at the airfield for 2011, officials reported. American Airlines and United are also canceling some flights because of corporate restructuring and rising costs, which could impact local passenger numbers in the future, airfield officials said. The airport handled 360,321 passengers in September, compared to 360,538 the same period last year, according to the latest figures released to the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority on Monday.

Dario Frommer, chairman of the California Transportation Commission, used his canceled flight from Bob Hope Airport to Sacramento today to highlight the need for high-speed rail. As lawmakers review the latest business plan for the rail project today , Frommer, former assemblyman for the 43rd District, issued a statement bemoaning his inability to be there in person after he said his flight was canceled due to fog. "If California already had high-speed rail built, I could have simply jumped on the train," he said in a statement.

I am writing to agree with Greg Hiscott (“Why do the police fly over La Cañada? Oct. 10) that the Glendale Police Department needs to provide us with more information about its helicopters being flown over our neighborhoods. At times, these flights go on for hours over a very small area. Publicly available flight logs would facilitate more informed discussion about the justification for this expense. Roberta Medford Montrose    

The three Congressional representatives whose districts comprise a large swath of the San Fernando Valley testified before a House panel on Thursday about the need to more strictly regulate helicopters. Residents have long complained about low-flying helicopters and the noise they produce. Rep. Howard Berman (D-Van Nuys) has been pushing for House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee's Aviation Subcommittee to take up the issue for months. At the panel, he cited “Carmegaddon” and other events as drawing in nearly nonstop helicopter noise as news channels ramped up coverage of the 405 Freeway closure.

The parents of an autistic teen who left Bob Hope Airport on Wednesday and was found hours later in West Hollywood did not pay the airline for an attending escort, an aviation source said - allowing the boy to escape the notice of officials until he was long gone. Cameron James Smith was scheduled to fly to a specialized school in Salt Lake City. When he was found seven hours later, he told police he was running away because he did not want to return to the school. Cameron was spotted a little after 5:30 p.m. by two people in the heart of West Hollywood.

More than two years after the devastating Station fire, the U.S. Forest Service has yet to establish guidelines for firefighting night flights over rugged terrain in the Angeles National Forest - frustrating local officials who say the agency is dragging its feet ahead of the upcoming fire season. Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich sent a letter last week to Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) criticizing the Forest Service for the delay, calling the current ban on aerial fire attacks at night “ineffective.” He went on to contend that the nighttime flight prohibition “prevented early containment [of the Station fire]

Silver Lake residents are asking that the city removes "No Cruising" signs erected along Griffith Park Boulevard and Hyperion Avenue, the Eastsider LA reported. “Cruising,” in this case, refers to searching for sex partners. The signs were installed in 1997 following many years of complaints of gay men cruising for sex near popular bars. Residents say the signs have outlived their purpose, according to the news site . Saggy pants aren't allowed on Southwest flights, even if you're a celebrity Green Day front man Billie Joe Armstrong says he was kicked off of a Southwest Airlines flight from Oakland to Burbank last week for wearing his pants too low, KGO-TV reported.

The San Gabriel Mountains are clearly on the mend from the devastation of the Station fire, with flora and fauna coming back and areas reopened for public use. But as the two-year anniversary of the fire arrives, some important matters remain untended, leaving the region more at risk from inevitable future wildfires than it need be. The mystery of who started the Station fire remains unsolved, but that may not be the most pressing question....

For nearly a year, officials have been trying to figure out what to do with Charles Douglas. The 59-year-old owner of Precise Roofing Company in Burbank has been feeding flocks of pigeons since at least September 2010, officials say, which - beyond violating municipal code - has created a major safety hazard for jet airplanes using the nearby Bob Hope Airport as the birds numbers have grown into the hundreds. On average, airport police Commander Allen Schmitt said planes at Bob Hope Airport strike a bird once every two months.

For the fourth consecutive month, airline passenger traffic at Bob Hope Airport dropped below budget projections, declining 5.1% in June compared with a year ago, according to the latest airport statistics. The number of passengers using Bob Hope Airport has declined by more than 5% every month since March, according to the latest figures released to the Burbank-Glendale Pasadena Airport Authority. Other regional airfields also experienced declining traffic. In Orange County, John Wayne Airport reported a 2.9% drop, and Ontario Airport reported a 5.8% dip. Bob Hope Airport handled 371,931 passengers in June, compared with 392,052 passengers in June 2010, according to the authority.