Private jet aircraft okay to land in SM
SM AIRPORT Despite all the complaints from residents about noise, pollution and the potential dangers to public safety, federal aviation officials are standing by their decision to allow private jets to fly in and out of the Santa Monica Airport.
Residents were hoping that proposed runway safety enhancements, if installed, would make it impossible for larger, jet aircraft to use the airport because of a reduction in available runway real estate.
However, officials with the Federal Aviation Administration said they will approve only those enhancements which do not dramatically reduce the size of the runway.
“One of the FAA’s big concerns is we don’t want the solution to adversely impact operations at the airport,” said Jim White, deputy director of airport safety and standards for the FAA. “Jets can safely use the airport currently so there is no safety reason to prohibit them. There are of course noise issues, but that is not a safety issue.”
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) recently convened a meeting with pilots and operators who routinely use the airport to gain data and feedback on their flights and whether or not proposed runway safety enhancements would prevent them from operating out of the airport.
City Hall, at the urging of residents living at both ends of the eastside airport, has been negotiating with the FAA since 2002 to implement safety enhancements, which they said are sorely needed given the increase in faster, larger jet aircraft making use of the airport.
Comments from pilots are being analyzed by the FAA, City Hall and the Airport Commission to determine what types of planes can safely take off and land at the airport if additional safety enhancements were to be enacted.
The enhancements may include creating runway safety areas that would decrease the available landing and take-off area pilots use, reserving it for emergencies only. While advancements in technology have allowed jet aircraft to use the airport’s 5,000-foot runway, the margin for error is slim, prompting city staff to examine the issue. By further eliminating the amount of available runway, also known as the landing threshold, jets may be grounded.
While there are those who are encouraged by the progress made so far between City Hall and the FAA, several residents and elected officials have complained about the slow pace of the process and are urging the FAA to act before there is a tragic accident.
City Hall and the FAA have been at odds for years over operations at the airport, with federal officials resorting to legal action to prevent City Hall from enacting an airport management plan that called for the elimination of larger aircraft. That led to a settlement agreement good through 2015, at which time many residents and city officials hope they will be able to gain more control over flights.
“We are sensitive to the concerns expressed (by residents and city officials) and we want to move quickly on this, and we believe we can come back to the city with our view of the comments by the end of March,” White said. “This is not a simple decision. There are lots of trade-offs and that’s why it has taken this long.”
At most commercial airports, the standard runway safety area is 500 feet wide and extends 1,000 feet beyond each end of the runway, according to the FAA.
However, since many airports were built before the 1,000-foot extension was adopted some 20 years ago, many, including Santa Monica, cannot achieve the full standard. This is due to obstacles such as bodies of water, highways, railroads or a severe drop-off in terrain.
In Santa Monica’s case, there are homes located directly adjacent to the runway.
City staff has proposed creating a 600-foot safety area on the east end of the runway.At the west end, they propose a 300-foot runway safety area with a 250-foot Engineered Materials Arresting System (EMAS) bed — a stretch of pavement injected with air bubbles designed to collapse under the weight of an aircraft as large as a Boeing 737 jet traveling as fast as 50 knots.
Residents said since bigger aircraft would be the only ones affected by the creation of runway safety areas, they should be the ones to pay for the EMAS system.
A standard EMAS installation extends 600 feet from the end of the runway. An EMAS arrestor bed can still be installed to help slow or stop an aircraft that overruns a runway, even if less than 600 feet of land is available.
The FAA is interested in a more condensed version of EMAS at the airport to maintain as much available runway as possible, according to White. Comments from pilots and other operators will go a long way in influencing the FAA on what type of safety measure can be installed.
In the end, White emphasized that the airport is safe and sound.
“We are always interested in improving safety,” White said. “If you can make safety enhancements and not significantly impact operations at the airport, it would make sense to do it. That’s what we are trying to do now... make sense of it.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on March 20, 2007. Read the original PDF.