An aircraft accident near California’s Whiteman Airport on Monday is drawing renewed attention to ongoing local efforts to end operations, including at least one local official using the incident to raise concerns about safety in surrounding neighborhoods. The accident involved a Cessna 172S Skyhawk SP operating from the airport, which overturned in a commercial parking lot shortly after departure. The pilot, who was the the sole occupant, was transported to a hospital in critical condition.
“This [L.A. County]-owned airport is poorly managed and continues to place serious health and safety threats on the Pacoima community,” Los Angeles City Councilmember Monica Rodriguez said in a statement reported by the Los Angeles Times. “It’s time for the county to step up and make meaningful changes.”
The accident comes as Los Angeles County continues to evaluate the future of the airport, including a recent study examining potential closure and redevelopment. A January letter from the FAA said that land acquired with federal funding must remain in aviation use unless formally released, and that any closure proposal would require federal review and approval. The airport’s future has remained a point of discussion among community members and aviation stakeholders following multiple incidents in recent years.
“Events like this are taken very seriously,” the Whiteman Airport Coalition said in a statement reported by the Los Angeles Times. “Whiteman Airport operates under strict federal safety standards, with rigorous requirements for pilot training, aircraft maintenance, and flight operations.”
The accident itself prompted a response from bystanders who helped remove the 70-year-old pilot from the aircraft before emergency crews arrived. First responders also secured the area due to downed power lines. The FAA and NTSB are investigating the accident, which occurred shortly after departure from Whiteman Airport after the aircraft attempted to return the field.
I learned to fly @WHP. Good airport out of the restrictions of LAX, open practice areas nearby, plenty of small GA airports around to practice cross-country solo flights or touch & go practice. Strange that a L.A. City councilwoman has such a vested interest in the welfare of the people of Pacoima. I wonder why.
How many automobile accidents do they have in Pacoima? Are they going to shut down the roads?
Developers are very good at greasing palms under the table, perhaps?
Train hit a car. Let’s close all the railroads. Car Crash at an intersection. Let’s close all the roads. Close KLGA, there was an accident there recently.
The ‘airport’ didn’t cause the accident, it was the pilot. We can train, evaluate, and assess pilot skills all we want, but you can’t fix stupid!
Is LA County prepared to close the highways because some driver cause an accident resulting in death and property damage? Same rationale applies to the airport.
We are preaching to the choir here … I’ve flown into Whiteman. It was there before the population came … it is a lower income population, heavily Hispanic. In the TV news people interviewed could not speak English.
LA County already voted to not accept federal funds any more for Whiteman following a Cessna that crashed on takeoff maybe two years ago. No residents or homes were hurt but a renter in a nearby house expressed that the airport should close. A renter (no vested community interest, could not speak English).
The crash plane apparently ran out of fuel – it was rented from a flight school and had just taken off, had a problem and was returning. But why are there elevated power lines under final approach to Whiteman? People complain about the airport and planes but let’s complain about the power lines. If they were not there the pilot might have made it to the runway? Maybe?
LaGuardia was the fault of the controller in clearing a fire truck to cross the active with an Embraer landing. I agree with your thinking … people blame the airport, blame the pilot, but, as I reported, maybe we should blame the power lines at Whiteman?
Why is it that the city government that allow developers to build right up to airport property, never held accountable? Maybe a class-action lawsuit against the city is in order.
According to a recent poll by neighbors around Santa Monica airport, 58% want to keep the airport. The city wants to put a park in it place. You know, somewhere for the homeless to live.
Pacoima could do same thing, haven for homeless! That would be funny!
Sad that in this country we can consider corruption as a likely factor compounding virtually any transaction. A banana republic we’ve become.
Burbank airport is next door to Whiteman; they should close it down too. After all a landing Southwest Airlines 737 did overrun the runway, broke through the perimeter fence and ended up in a gas station. The photo of the prices of gas next to the airplane’s battered nose is still iconic.