On Friday, the City of Santa Monica’s longstanding effort to ban category C and D aircraft from operating into Santa Monica Airport was again blocked, this time by an FAA hearing officer who ruled on the FAA Part 16 dispute between the city and the FAA. “The ordinance unreasonably and unjustly discriminates against classes of aeronautical activities, and, thus, is inconsistent with the City’s obligations under Assurance 22 of the grant agreements between the FAA and the City,” the officer noted. Also on Friday, NBAA submitted a letter to the Los Angeles city council, expressing concern over Los Angeles World Airports’ plans to implement a phase-out of Stage 2 aircraft over a seven-year period at Van Nuys Airport. “A phase-out would be highly discriminatory and serve no valid purpose,” NBAA said. “Although a phase-out is projected to affect only five flights per day in 2014, those flights are of critical importance to the operators and the community, and there would be no offsetting environmental benefits.”