Pilot overshoots SM runway, heightening residents’ fears
SM AIRPORT A small single-engine aircraft overshot the runway at the municipal airport early Sunday evening, heightening fears of Sunset Park residents who have long been concerned that a plane could land in their backyard.
A four-seat Jabiru J400 model kit airplane, created by an Australian manufacturer that distributes affordable airplanes that can be assembled at home, reportedly exceeded the runway at the Santa Monica Airport around 5:50 p.m., rolling off the west end and landing on the service road.
There were no reported injuries or property damage to nearby residences, but the plane’s right wing, landing gear and windscreen, weren’t as fortunate.
The pilot, whose name was not released, flew in from Boulder, Colo. and is staying locally with a friend, according to Airport Manager Bob Trimborn.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) are investigating the incident. A report is not expected for at least six months.
Accidents of this nature have been a concern for neighbors who live roughly 300 feet from the east and west ends of the runway, fearful that a plane would exceed the landing strip and end up on top of a house.
“We are very relieved that no one was injured in this accident,” said Zina Josephs, president of the neighborhood group Friends of Sunset Park. “The last time we had a similar overrun off the west end of the runway, the plane caught fire and both the pilot and passenger died.”
The incident in which Josephs referred to occurred in November 2001 when a Cessna 340A attempted to take off from the airport, but instead jumped an embankment and crashed into a guardrail on the service road about 30 feet below, bursting into flames and killing both the pilot, a Santa Monica resident, and a passenger on board, according to a report by the NTSB. The possible cause of the 2001 accident was 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,” the report states.
“Every crash, even if it might not be fatal to the pilot or the people on the ground, just shows that incidents can happen and one of these days, it will happen with a larger plane and it’ll be much more serious,” said Lorraine Sanchez, who lives on the east side of 23rd Street to the north of the airport.
Sanchez said she didn’t hear the accident on Sunday afternoon but did notice helicopters flying overhead in the hours following the crash.
The airport runway is close to 5,000 feet long and most planes land at about the 1,000 foot marker, Trimborn said. According to the specifications of the single-engine plane involved in the accident, it could’ve stopped at about 700 feet, he said.
“It does seem particular that he went off the end,” Trimborn said on Monday.
Susan Hartley, the vice-chairman of the Airport Commission, said the incident is a reminder that an ordinance banning faster aircraft needs to be put into effect.
“Thank heavens it was not a Gulfstream IV jet,” Hartley said. “Thank heavens nobody, including the residents of Sunset Park and persons in traffic on 23rd Street were injured.”
Representatives from City Hall are expected to meet with FAA officials later this month to discuss runway safety enhancements. The City Council in November of last year unanimously approved the first reading of an ordinance that would ban large and fast jet activity from the airport.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on January 15, 2008. Read the original PDF.