By Jonathan Friedman
Lookout Staff

July 6, 2010--Los Angeles City Council member Bill Rosendahl, whose district includes West Los Angeles, issued a statement late last week in favor of the new route recently tested by small airplane pilots taking off from Santa Monica Airport (SMO). The route has been criticized by some Santa Monica residents for adding noise and danger to local neighborhoods.

The FAA test took place from December through early June. Its purpose was to determine whether a new flight route could decrease delays at LAX and SMO. With the test, single-engine, piston-powered planes were ordered to turn to a heading 40 degrees to the right shortly after take-off. This took the aircraft over the Sunset Park and Ocean Park neighborhoods toward the pier.

A press release from Rosendahl states that the tested route “diminished conflicts” between SMO and LAX traffic, “reducing the idling of propeller aircraft that creates a cloud of aircraft emissions that hovers over homes just hundreds of feet away in Venice, Mar Vista and West L.A.”

“This new procedure is better for people in Venice, Mar Vista and West L.A. surrounding the airport,” Rosendahl said. “I am grateful that the FAA tested this procedure, and I strongly encourage all my constituents to urge federal officials to implement it permanently.”

He continued, "I represent residents living near two airports in my district, SMO and LAX. Nobody needs to tell me about noise impacts from those airports. But, I can't ask a kid living in Venice, Mar Vista or West L.A. to play in a black cloud of aircraft emissions so that someone in Santa Monica is spared the noise impacts.”

The City of Santa Monica has taken no formal position on the test route, although officials have said the FAA did not properly notify the public before beginning the test (an accusation the FAA has denied) and they recently hired consultants to study the route as well as the thousands of complaints from local residents. Also, the City will receive advice “regarding possible alternative courses to remedy the situation.” (See: City Hires Consultants for Airport Studies and Website Enhancement, June 17, 2010.)

Congressman Henry Waxman, who represents Santa Monica, recently sent a strongly worded letter to the FAA, criticizing what he believes was a lack of notice to the residents of the test as well as the perceived dangers of the route.

The FAA is studying the results of the test and researching the complaints made during it. An FAA spokesperson told The Lookout News last month that a report will be released in August, and then the FAA will decide whether to make the test route permanent. If the FAA decides to do this, it must do an environmental review.

Rosendahl’s comments came during a week that SMO was in the news due to crash of a small plane taking off from the airport. The pilot, 60-year-old Robert R. Davenport of Los Angeles, was killed when the plane crashed into a Venice golf course Friday evening. Nobody on the ground was killed. Authorities say Davenport may have been practicing landings.

The incident has sparked interest from those already concerned about Airport issues. Martin Rubin, director of Concerned Residents Against Airport Pollution (CRAAP), said practicing plane takeoffs and landings should not take place in Santa Monica.

“It is reckless to allow students to practice takeoffs and landings over a densely populated area,” Rubin wrote in a statement. “Schools for pilots should be located in an area that minimizes every safety risk.”

He continued, “We are all saddened to hear of the death of the pilot, and our condolences go out to his family and friends. At the same time, it is fortunate that no one on the ground was killed or injured.”