A recent story in the Santa Monica Daily Press compares Santa Monica Airport (SMO) with North Las Vegas Airport (VGT), which receives similar complaints from neighbors. It’s a good read and well worth getting about 3/4 of the way down, when the reporter says this: “In 2009, general aviation pilots logged just under 24 million flight hours, which equates to roughly 240 deaths, on average. Compare that to the tens of thousands of fatal accidents that occur on America’s highways and byways — 30,797 resulting in 33,808 deaths in 2009 — and general aviation flying seems like traveling in bubble wrap.” Read the whole story here.
About Janice Wood
Janice Wood is editor of General Aviation News.
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Santa Monica Press is pro residents and anti-airport. I’ve spoken to the reporter there and she seems to publish only the hysterical views of the residents.
I was around SMO in the 1970s and I attended a city council meeting one night – a recession was raging and the City of Santa Monica wanted tax income ….. the discussion was about developers wanting to build housing in the setback area West of the airport ….. the Mayor said that anyone buying a house would know that an airport was there “And they could not possibly complain!”
Dear good people who reside near the Santa Monica airport and its surrounding communities.
Please keep in mind that in the event of a serious emergency, such as the Watsonville earthquake in 1989, that left the city isolated by road, the airport became the lifeline to that community. The citizens that complained about the airport, now have an entirely different view of it.
The raging Lake Tahoe fires a few years ago, also changed the minds of surrounding residents, after the South Lake Tahoe airport became the lifeline to their community by staging the fire fighting efforts which SAVED the entire South Lake Tahoe area!
Please consider the real possibility of a major earthquake or other major disaster in your area, which has the possibility of grid locking all freeways and many surface streets.
I promise you all, based on what we’ve seen with Watsonville, Tahoe, the Hatian earthquake, to name a few, you will immediately change your attitude about general aviation, general aviation airports, and the pilots you now disparage.
As with the September 11 rescue mission by Hudson river civilian and commercial boat operators that horrible morning, you will flock to Santa Monica airport and reap the amazing generosity and heroic efforts by general aviation pilots, commercial jet pilots, flight school owners/pilots and military rescue and relief pilots and their aircraft.
Yes, LAX will also become a relief and rescue airport, but consider the millions of citizens in the greater Los Angeles area who will want and desperately need help. Then please also consider the small amount of airports in the greater Los Angeles, Orange County area that are available to serve everyone’s emergency needs and relief.
Thank for looking at YOUR airport differently now.
Mitch Latting
http://www.friendsofoceanoairport.com