Council to delay possible jet ban
CITY HALL City officials decided to delay a decision Tuesday that would have banned the fastest jets from operating out of Santa Monica Airport, citing the need for more time to review a new offer that was submitted by the Federal Aviation Administration just days before.
City Attorney Marsha Moutrie advised the City Council to postpone the ratification of an ordinance banning class C and D jets — planes that approach the runway at 121- 140 and 141-165 knots, respectively — at the municipal airport, giving officials more time to review the proposal and adding more leverage to City Hall in case the new law is challenged by the FAA.
“It is likely to end up in court and if it does, it’s very important the city goes into court with a full record and goes into court with a record demonstrating the city heard the FAA out reasonably in all regards and given full and fair consideration to its claims that its proposal would greatly enhance safety,” Moutrie said during the council meeting on Tuesday.
Kurt Shaffer, the associate administrator for airports for the FAA, is expected to address the council at its meeting on March 25 when the matter of the ordinance is expected to arise once again.
Some councilmembers seemed reluctant to postpone the issue for two more weeks because of the amount of time that has passed since the ordinance was introduced last fall, relenting after learning it would give City Hall more pull in a possible court challenge.
“I have been very concerned about how long this process has taken,” Councilmember Ken Genser said, stressing that he isn’t willing to hold the issue past the next council meeting.
In the offer letter dated March 7, Shaffer proposes installing an Emergency Material Arresting System (EMAS) — a series of concrete blocks that gives way under the weight of an aircraft, slowing it down in case it overshoots the runway — that could handle aircraft traveling at 70-knots. The FAA’s offer adds onto a previous proposal to install EMAS that could accommodate aircraft traveling at up to 40 knots.
The 70-knot EMAS would be designed to stop roughly 97 percent of aircraft at the Santa Monica Airport, including 90 percent of the C and D categories, the letter states. The enhanced safety measure would consume more runway than the 40-knot EMAS, something the FAA previously opposed.
Included in the offer is a proposition to reduce noise and pollution by changing the alignment of aircraft on runway 21, which is where the majority of flights take off from, adjusting the line of planes so the emissions go back down the taxiway and away from the adjacent neighborhoods. The FAA is also proposing to add information about noise abatement procedures in the electronic notifications sent to pilots who file their flight plans into or out of Santa Monica.
The federal agency is also testing a new departure procedure where takeoffs from Santa Monica Airport would run independently of LAX, a difference from the former schedule where pilots had to receive clearance from LAX before departing. The result is expected to lead to fewer aircraft idling on the ground, according to aviation officials.
Some councilmembers said the new proposal does not go far enough.
“My first reaction to this letter (from) Mr. Shaffer was that it would make a wonderful paper airplane,” Councilmember Kevin McKeown said. “This letter does not break any new ground and I think I could throw a gulf stream jet as far as I trust the FAA at this point based on what’s happened in the past.”
Sunset Park residents, specifically those near the airport, have long complained about the noise and safety hazards of jet aircraft, fearing that a plane will one day overshoot a runway and crash into homes.
There have been runway accidents in the past several years, most recently in January when a single-engine model kit airplane rolled off the west end of the runway and landed on the service road. There were no reported injuries.
In 2001, a Cessna 340A crashed into a guardrail on the service road after attempting to take off from the airport, killing both the pilot and passenger on board. The incident was attributed to the “pilot’s failure to remove the control gust lock prior to takeoff and his failure to abort the takeoff with sufficient runway remaining to stop the airplane on the runway,” according to a report by the National Transportation Safety Board.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on March 13, 2008. Read the original PDF.