Planes leave fine mist in air

Sally Purschell's boys love to sit outside and watch the UPS planes fly overhead.

Her problem starts when the planes fly by around 9:30 p.m. The noises from the planes wake her baby.

"They get away with murder," Purschell said.  "They really do."

Eventually, the noise fades, and her baby goes back to sleep. As the sun comes up, however, Purschell doesnât have to look far for evidence of the planes that land and take off from Long Beach Airport.

Soot, very fine particles emitted from airplanes, covers her patio.

"It is very, very dirty," she said. "The last few years it seems like there is more black."

Purschell's relationship with the airport reflects that of many who live in the area. There arenât obvious, overwhelming problems.  "It doesn't seem to bother them at first," said Purschell, an 18-year real estate agent who sells homes around the airport. "But then people start to talk about it. People don't realize it until it's too late."

The soot is not a health hazard, an Air Quality Management District spokesman said.

"There could be soot or oily particles from aircraft that would be in the immediate area," said Sam Atwood of the air quality management district. "They soil property and make things dirty. But they are not small enough to be inhaled into the deep part of the lung."

The airport, owned and operated by the City of Long Beach, accommodates more than one million commercial and general aviation passengers with its air and ground transportation services, according to the airportâs Website.

By comparison, John Wayne Airport in Orange County caters to almost 7.5 million passengers per year. Los Angeles International Airport, one of the worldâs busiest, attends to more than 60 times the number of passengers than does Long Beach.

Long Beach has the lowest number of aircraft emissions of the five airports in the Los Angeles area, Atwood said.

A lawsuit filed in 1983 and settled in 1995 limits the number of commercial flights at Long Beach to 41 a day, according to Matthew Crosman, the airportâs operations superintendent.

Under the agreement, airlines may challenge that limit next January, but they arenât reaching 41 daily flights now.

"Chances are slim that the number of flights will change," said Mike Mais, deputy city attorney for Long Beach. "They will probably leave it as it is."

In addition to limiting the number of flights, the average noise level over a 24-hour period cannot exceed 65 decibels based on the average of all the airplanes flying that day.

"It is a relatively quiet standard," Crosman said. The Long Beach Airport is "one of the few airports that meet that level."

Flights must be made between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. as well. If an airline experiences a problem that is something beyond its control, such as weather or mechanical problems, it may fly into the airport between 10 and 11 p.m., said Ken Ashmore, an employee of the Long Beach Airport Noise Office.

IN THE WATER

BACTERIA

• E.coli: Gastroenteritis

 
• Salmonella typhi: Typhoid fever

 
• Other salmonella species: Various enteric fevers (often called paratyphoid), gastroenteritis, septicemia (generalized infections -- organisims, multiply in the bloodstream).

PROTOZOA (Intestinal Parasites)

• Cryptosporidium: Diarrhea -- Cryptosporidiosis

 
• Giardia lamblia: Diarrhea -- Giardiasis

• Rotavirus: Diarrhea -- Gastroenteritis

 
• Norwalkvirus: Gastroenteritis

 
• Coxsackievirus (some strains): Various, including severe disease, fevers, rashes, paralysis, aseptic meningitis myocarditis

 
• Adenovirus: Respiratory and gastrointestinal infections

 
• Echovirus: Various, similar to coxsackievirus (evidence is not definite except in experimental animals)

• Poliovirus: Poliomyelitis

• Hepatitis A: Infectious hepatitis (liver malfunction), also may affect kidneys and spleen

Source: Los Angeles Times