Encroachment on Airports

I support keeping Santa Monica Airport open, as a matter of fact, I support keeping all airports open that are being threatened by encroachment.

Santa Monica and other airports have received grant money from the Federal Aviation Association (FAA) for upgrades for runways, taxiways and other infrastructure, which is our tax dollars at work. The growth of the surrounding towns and cities should not have the option of closing the airports that were first attractive, but later fell into disfavor.

The City of Santa Monica sued the FAA over future control of Santa Monica Airport two years ago asking the court to declare that the city controls the airport’s land and that in 2015 its obligation to keep operating the airport ends. The city’s mayor believes the airport should become something else, like a park. Sounds like Chicago’s Meigs Field to me.

The FAA has long maintained that Santa Monica is obligated to operate the airport indefinitely because the city acquired the airport land from the government in 1948 for free. The Federal Government expanded the size of the airport during the war to accommodate the growing production of military aircraft being built by Douglas Aircraft Factory.

Santa Monica is an historic airfield. Donald Douglas and the Douglas Aircraft Factory built the World Cruisers at Clover Field (now Santa Monica Airport) in the early 1920s.

The first “Powder Puff Derby” Women’s Air Race was launched from Clover Field in 1929! Amelia Earhart, Pancho Barnes, Louise Thaden (1st place winner) and Bobbi Trout flew in that first race!

Douglas Aircraft Company built and tested many different kinds of aircraft at Santa Monica Airport including the DC-3 / DC-4 / DC-6 / DC-7 piston powered airliners.

During WWII, Douglas Aircraft became a major defense contractor, and employed up to 44,000 workers who worked three shifts, seven days a week. This economic engine transformed the city as thousands of new homes were built for the Douglas workers, creating Sunset Park and other neighborhoods nearby.

Ultimately in 1959, after 50 years at the Airport, Douglas closed down the Santa Monica operation, having manufactured a total of 10,724 aircraft.Donald Douglas produced some of the most impressive aircraft at that airport, and they are still flying today.

Not only should this airport be saved because of the immense aviation history that was created there, but more importantly because of a study the city of Santa Monica itself commissioned that measured the airport’s annual economic impact at $275-million and the 1,500 jobs the airport supports.

Those of us lucky enough to fly airplanes know the value of an airport is priceless. Some of our non-aviation friends and neighbors obviously do not have the same feeling.  Across the country population centers have expanded, and started to encroach on our airports—even though the airport has been there decades ahead of the subdivisions, schools, and other community infrastructure. 

It is important for an airport’s governing board to get out ahead of the encroachment and work on Master Plans with cities and counties, setting some sensible boundaries for aviation easements, runway protection zones, buildings, towers and other structures. I am thankful that Mojave Airport management, now Mojave Air and Space Port, worked with Kern County in coordinating such safeguards into the Mojave Master Plan.

One of the tools the aviation community uses to help communicate the value an airport brings to the community is to quantify its economic benefits. As in the case of Santa Monica, the numbers are quite impressive.

There are additional economic benefits that are sometimes not captured in economic studies. Jobs and income associated with remote businesses that rely on airport operations are not included in estimates.  The numbers also don’t take into account the jobs that result from capital projects funded principally by the FAA. Those projects can total many millions over a period of time.  Plus, there are more than a few jobs and supplies purchased locally to make those improvements happen.

So in addition to the benefit we pilots get either from keeping our airplane at Mojave, Tehachapi, Rosamond SkyPark or Fox Field, whether flying for business or pleasure, these local airports add a significant number of jobs and dollars to the economy of our local area. Perhaps it’s time for us to measure the annual economic impact of each of our local airports.

See you on our next flight!