The county Board of Supervisors directed its staff Tuesday to move forward with a series of recommendations aimed at boosting safety at Whiteman Airport in Pacoima, where a series of crashes in recent years have raised questions about the facility’s future.
On May 5, the 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.
In late May, the county Department of Public Works submitted its report to the board, offering a series of recommendations. The top recommendation in the document called for the county to sponsor quarterly Pilot Safety seminars — the first of which is already scheduled to occur next month.
“The Pilot Safety seminars will be structured as an ongoing, free, and accessible program for local pilots that reinforce a culture of safety while addressing the specific operational realities of the airport and surrounding airspace,” the report stated. “The series will combine quarterly in-person seminars covering topics, such as airspace compliance, runway incursion avoidance, noise abatement procedures, weather, decision-making, human factors, and emerging safety technologies, among others. Presentations will feature a mix of (Federal Aviation Administration) representatives, experienced local flight instructors, air traffic controllers, and accident investigators to provide both regulatory context and real-world lessons learned.”
The seminar program was estimated to cost about $2,000 per year.
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.”
Jason Morgan of the county Department of Public Works told the Board of Supervisors Tuesday the project would mainly ensure the pavement and markings remain in their existing state of good repair. Public Works officials indicated the project would rehabilitate 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 is estimated to cost about $5 million.
The report also suggested an enhanced community outreach program “to provide regular updates or public safety announcements to the community,” at a cost of about $500,000.
On June 16, weeks after the report was submitted to the Board of Supervisors, a small plane crashed while landing at Whiteman Airport, causing minor injuries to the 77-year-old pilot. The Whiteman Airport Coalition — a group of pilots, business owners and public safety advocates who support the continued operation of the airfield — issued a statement saying the plane’s landing gear did not properly deploy, causing the aircraft to crash through a perimeter fence and come to a stop in a parking lot on airport grounds.
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.
That airport land-use study is underway.
Horvath said Tuesday her office looked back over plane crashes at the airport over the past 20 years, and cross-referenced them with the ensuing investigations by the National Transportation Safety Board.
“According to the NTSB, every single crash has been caused by pilot error or aircraft malfunction,” Horvath said. “While upgrading hangars, more lighting … or any other community benefits will be discussed as part of the land use study later this year, these improvements would not have prevented any of the accidents we’ve seen, not just this year but the last 20 years.”
Horvath amended her motion Tuesday to include a request that staff report back to the board after the completion of the airport land use study about the feasibility of several additional steps, such as making the pilot safety seminars mandatory at Whiteman. She also called for the county to advocate for legislative changes that would increase oversight of aircraft maintenance and implement enhanced FAA training and certification requirements for pilots and aircraft.
“It’s absolutely unacceptable for community members to live in fear without answers as to why these things are happening and especially to know that over the past 20 years that these are really related to pilot and operational error, not to the county’s lack of maintenance of a facility, lack of jurisdiction in terms of taking our authority seriously,” Horvath said. “These are issues that we really want to seriously address. There is a role to play for FAA, NTSB and each and every pilot who has been writing to my office saying … they want to see this airport maintained and to stay open. I appreciate that, but they also have a responsibility to keep our community safe.”
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.
The Whiteman Airport Coalition issued a statement Monday saying the county should be pursuing available grant money from the Federal Aviation Administration to cover the costs of improvements at the airport.
“At a time when the county is facing serious budget challenges, taxpayers shouldn’t be asked to shoulder costs that could potentially be covered, at least in part, through existing FAA programs,” according to the group.