Frustrated with a lack of response from federal aviation regulators after recent crashes at county-owned Whiteman Airport in Pacoima, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, June 30 approved a plan to make both federal airport inspections and county-implemented quarterly pilot safety training courses mandatory.
A growing number of neighbors, including members of the group Pacoima Beautiful and an L.A. City Council member, have urged shuttering the airport for the sake of public safety. The Whiteman Airport Coalition says closing the airport would cost jobs and eliminate operations that lend vital support to putting out wildfires.
The enhanced safety requirements approved by the county on Tuesday step into the Federal Aviation Authority’s authority, which is why the board’s motion, led by Third District Supervisor Lindsey Horvath who represents the San Fernando Valley, asked its Office of County Counsel to report on the feasibility of these county-ordered actions.
Enforcement of these new orders would be determined shortly after the completion of the county’s Whiteman Airport Land Use Study, already underway, that includes a look at alternative economic uses along with a possible closure. That study is expected to be released within the next six months, Horvath said.
“I am interested in exploring what the county can do to go higher than the FAA guidelines,” Horvath said.
“This airport is located in a densely populated residential community,” she added. “With repeated failures of the FAA to prevent crashes at Whiteman, I think we need to do more. It is unacceptable for community members to live in fear without answers as to why these things are happening.”
Jason Morgan, the county’s aviation division chief within the L.A. County Department of Public Works, said the FAA handles licensing of pilots, not the county. When asked by Horvath who keep aircraft maintenance records, he said the owner does but that the FAA is required to do annual inspections of each aircraft’s maintenance but “the FAA uses its oversight to exercise its inspection authority.”
Horvath wanted to know about whether there are age limits for pilots. The answer was no. Every pilot is required to have a medical certificate and those over 40 are required to be checked every two years by the FAA inspectors, Morgan said.
The supervisor may have been getting at the fact that two of the recent accidents involved pilots over the age of 65. Horvath said records show that the crashes are not from runway or traffic controller issues, but the fault of pilots or faulty aircraft.
“Of the 35 crashes at Whiteman in the last 25 years, every single one was a result of pilot error or aircraft malfunction,” Horvath said.
The most recent occurred on June 16, when a small plane crashed while landing at Whiteman. The 77-year-old pilot failed to deploy his landing gear. The pilot was not hospitalized after the aircraft came to rest in the facility’s parking lot. The downed single-engine plane was reported at 9:11 a.m. in the area of 12653 Osborne St., just beyond the end of the embattled airfield’s runway, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department.
Crews reported a 5-gallon fuel spill that was contained with no active fire.
The crash was the latest in a string of high-profile incidents involving aircraft operating to or from the county-owned airport in recent years.
Those accidents have fueled a long-standing debate over whether Whiteman Airport should remain open, pitting community advocates and elected officials who say the airport poses unacceptable risks against airport supporters, who argue it remains an important regional asset and should instead be modernized.
About an hour after last month’s crash, the Whiteman Airport Coalition released a statement that said the plane safely landed on the runway, but the landing gear did not deploy properly and the aircraft barreled through a perimeter fence before coming to a stop.
“The pilot was injured but was able to walk away from the aircraft,” the coalition statement said. “Thankfully, no one else was injured. Most importantly, the incident remained entirely on airport grounds and posed no danger to surrounding neighborhoods or nearby residents,” the statement continued.
Previous accidents were more perilous, to the pilot and the surrounding community.
On April 20, a single-engine propeller aircraft crashed in the neighborhood of Pacoima, outside of Whiteman, while attempting to land. In its descent, the aircraft struck a power line and subsequently crashed into a parking lot of an auto parts store adjacent to residential neighborhoods. The 70-year-old pilot was the only person on board, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department, and was taken to a hospital in critical condition.
Short of a pilot aging out, Horvath was told by Mark Pestrella, director of Public Works, that pilot safety seminars are being started by the county. The first one starts next month, he said. Horvath wants to make these seminars mandatory for all pilots flying in and out of Whiteman.
“We support that,” said Morgan. “We will see if we are able to do so.”
Horvath said although the last accident was contained on the airport property, this still rattled the nerves of residents so close by.
“Even if it comes with only a minor incident, it is alarming to the nearby community,” she said.
The June 16 incident marked at least the fifth aircraft accident involving Whiteman Airport since 2020. Not counting the two recent crashes, the other incidents have included a fatal crash near homes in Pacoima, a dramatic emergency landing on Metrolink tracks in which police rescued the pilot moments before a train struck the aircraft, and another fatal crash near the 210 Freeway.
After the June crash, Horvath renewed her call for the FAA to suspend flight operations at Whiteman Airport pending a federal safety review, arguing regulators have not acted quickly enough following recent incidents.
Horvath has sent multiple letters to the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board since April urging the agencies to investigate recent crashes, review pilot training and airport safety practices, issue corrective recommendations and temporarily halt operations pending a broader federal safety review.
“In the wake of these incidents, there have been a lot of discussion about safety and how those incidents can be prevented,” Horvath said on Tuesday.
The L.A. City Council has previously weighed in on Whiteman Airport, though it has no authority over the county-owned facility.
In December 2020, the council unanimously adopted a resolution supporting state or federal legislation or administrative action to close the airport. The resolution, introduced by Councilmember Monica Rodriguez, whose district includes Pacoima, cited public safety and air quality concerns, as well as the potential to redevelop the cite for housing and jobs for the surrounding community.
Rodriguez, who has urged closing the airport for several years, introduced the motion after a pilot was killed in when a single-engine plane crashed onto a residential street just short of the airport’s runway in November 2020.
“Since 2020, I have called for the closure of Whiteman Airport due to repeated plane crashes,” Los Angeles City Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez, who represents the 7th district, said on Monday, April 20, in a statement. “This county-owned airport is poorly managed and continues to place serious health and safety threats on the Pacoima community.”
Also the motion calls for the county to proceed with 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.”
The cost of this project is about $5 million. Pestrella said he has secured a commitment for funding from the FAA.
Other actions in the motion include better oversight from the FAA of aircraft maintenance, pilot training and aircraft runway ramp inspections. Also, the county will pursue federal grant funds for any eligible residential sound insulation that would not be predicated on the airport remaining open.
Staff Writer Teresa Liu contributed to this article