A small plane crashed on takeoff from Whiteman Airport in Pacoima Tuesday, sending its pilot to a hospital after the aircraft came to rest in the facility’s parking lot.
The downed single-engine plane was reported at 9:11 a.m. Tuesday in the area of 12653 W. Osborne St., just beyond the end of the embattled airfield’s runway, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department.
The pilot was extricated and assessed at the scene, but was not injured and did not require hospital transport, a department spokeswoman said.
Crews reported a five-gallon fuel spill that was contained with no active fire.
The latest crash at the airport comes less than a month after quarterly pilot seminars and upgrades to runway pavement and markings were among the recommendations in a Los Angeles County staff report detailing ways to bolster safety at Whiteman, where a series of crashes in recent years has renewed questions about the facility’s future.
On May 5, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved a motion by Supervisor Lindsey Horvath directing staff to prepare a report on immediate steps the county could potentially take to improve safety at the airport.
The request came following an April 20 crash of a Cessna 172 small aircraft that struck a power pole while en route to the airport, knocking down power lines and leaving the plane overturned in the parking lot of an auto parts store. The pilot survived but was critically injured.
The county Department of Public Works submitted the report to the board. The top recommendation in the document called for the county to sponsor quarterly pilot safety seminars.
The report also proposed maintenance on runway and taxiway pavement at the airport, although it stressed that runways and taxiways are currently “safe, functional and satisfy FAA maintenance and design standards.”
But Public Works officials suggested rehabilitation of about 554,500 square feet of pavement, including crack-sealing, slurry sealing and new pavement markings.
“Ultimately, these improvements would enhance the airport’s primary aircraft movement areas and help ensure that runway and taxiway pavements and markings remain in a state of good repair consistent with FAA maintenance and design standards,” according to the report.
The project was estimated to cost about $5 million.
The Board of Supervisors is expected to hold a discussion on the report, according to Horvath’s office.
The cause of the April 20 crash remains under investigation by federal officials.
In early 2022, the Board of Supervisors voted to explore the process involved in seeking a closure of the airport, should the county opt to pursue it. In January of that year, a plane landed on train tracks in the area and was struck by a Metrolink train. In November 2020, a plane crashed in a neighborhood near the runway, killing a Civil Air Patrol pilot.
In April 2022, a pilot died when a Cessna crashed alongside the Foothill (210) Freeway in the Sylmar area.
But while some area residents have pushed for the airport’s closure, supporters of the facility have insisted it plays a critical role in local aviation and can only be shuttered by the FAA — not the county.