SM AIRPORT Despite objections from the Federal Aviation Administration and the air-line industry, the City Council is expected on Tuesday to make the Santa Monica Airport off-limits to faster, larger jet aircraft, a move that should provide added safety to residents living as close as 300 feet from the runway.
Airport Manager Bob Trimborn will be asking the council to conform airport usage to the proper federal designation, which defines it as a facility suitable for aircraft with approach speeds of less than 121 knots, or 138 miles per hour.
The designation is consistent with the fact that the airport’s sole runway is less than 5,000 feet in length and, therefore, is not suitable for faster aircraft, which have very little room for error during landing and take-off, Trimborn said.
Limiting the airport to what are classified as Category A and B aircraft is part of the Aircraft Conformance Program — passed by the council in 2002 — that has been challenged by the FAA and the airline industry, which have successfully fought for more than 20 years to protect jet access, which they believe is necessary given the large number of flights at LAX.
Officials with the FAA, who have labeled Santa Monica Airport a reliever for LAX, would not comment on the proposed ordinance, preferring to wait until the council makes its final decision. However, they did say that jets can continue to use the airport safely as is, feeling additional safety measures could be added without changing the mix of aircraft that currently use the airport.
City officials have asked the FAA to allow them to put additional safety measures in place, including a runway safety area and collapsible concrete that would slow down out-of-control aircraft, but federal officials have balked at the idea, saying the changes would make the runway too short for some aircraft, forcing pilots to land elsewhere.
If the council bans jets, the FAA and the airline industry could bring legal action. City Hall is the operator of the airport, however, it is limited in what it can do because of a 1984 agreement with the FAA that arose out of litigation.
City attorneys believe the 1984 agreement and FAA orders allow City Hall to prohibit or limit any type of aircraft in the interest of public safety.
Trimborn said the FAA’s “refusal” to allow City Hall to implement safety standards or limit the types of aircraft using the airport “leaves the city without the ability to create an adequate physical safety buffer for the runway.”
“Thus, the FAA is, in effect, attempting to force the city … to take the unacceptable risk of continuing to permit the growing use of the airport (by faster jet aircraft),” Trimborn wrote in a report to the council.
Maintaining the airport safely is difficult, Trimborn said, because the facility’s circumstances are unique. It is situated on a plateau with hills on either side and surrounded by dense, residential neighborhoods, with the nearest homes situated less than 300 feet from the runway ends. There are no buffers or runway safety areas to protect against the risk of a runway undershoot or overrun.
Councilmembers, city staff and residents have accused the FAA of putting commerce and convenience ahead of protecting the public.
Residents will almost certainly be pleased if the council moves to ban the jet aircraft, something which they have been calling for the last decade, becoming more vocal in recent years after watching the number of jets landing and taking off increase dramatically because of fractional ownership, which allows companies to purchase time on a plane, reducing travel costs.
“I think it’s a great step in the right direction,” said Cathy Larson, who heads the airport committee for the neighborhood group Friends of Sunset Park, which represents residents living adjacent to the airport’s western edge. “It’s all about safety. The larg-er, faster jets are a serious threat to our community …If an (accident) happened here, it would be disastrous.”
The number of jet aircraft operations has grown from approximately 1,500 annually in the mid-1980s to more than 9,000 annual operations in 2006, or about 25 operations per day.
Trimborn said the proposed ordinance would only affect 7 percent of operations at the airport. The vast majority of operations — 93 percent — would not be affected.
Those who would be affected have two options. They can use other private aircraft that meet the city’s standards or they could use another airport in the region. Trimborn said with fractional ownership arrangements, business executives could easily trade their faster jet aircraft for slow-er aircraft.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on November 27, 2007. Read the original PDF.