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# Santa Monica A disaster waiting to happen
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/santa-monica-a-disaster-waiting-to-happen-editor/
- Published: 2008-01-17T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T18:00:22.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Opinion, Santa Monica Airport, #archive-import

*By Brian Bland Santa Monica*

Sunday’s overrun of the Santa Monica Airport runway by a single-engine propellor-driven plane certainly puts the lie to the Federal Aviation Administration’s claim that runway overruns present little or no danger to the city’s residents. Thank goodness the accident didn’t involve one of the faster, larger, jets City Hall is trying to ban.

Pilot error and equipment problems happen. Either way, an aircraft overruning a runway that has no designated safety overrun areas, as is the case here, means a possible disaster at any time.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on January 17, 2008.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/011708.pdf?ref=smdp.com)