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Community Corner

Plane annoying

Over the past several weeks, pilots flying out of SMO (Santa Monica Airport) have lost all sense of direction. Rather than following the prescribed flight path over Penmar Golf Course and along Rose Avenue to the coast – a take-off route that has been in place since 1984 when a small plane crashed into a multi-family building across the street from Samohi – pilots are ignoring the golf course, turning north as soon as they clear the airport, and traveling (in many cases) directly over Samohi, Santa Monica College, and the pier. (If the wind is blowing toward the coast, the planes will be landing from the ocean side and are instructed to follow the route in reverse – along Rose and over the golf course.)

 

The pilots’ behavior reveals either a blatant disregard for public safety or, possibly, a lack of recognition that last year’s “experiment” by the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) to change the flight path was temporary – it lasted only three months. As a test of an alternative “heading,” to use the aeronautical term, it was, judging by the community’s response, a total failure.

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Yet now, with the increase in IFR flying (Ignore Flight Rules – a twist on the real meaning of the initials: Instrument Flight Rules) and the pending expiration in 2014 of the 1984 heading, it’s vitally important to make it clear that neighborhood safety, environmental factors (from plane exhaust and noise pollution), and adherence to regulations are mandatory, not elective.

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To make your voice heard, there’s a very simple remedy – note the time that you saw a plane traveling off course, log on to http://webtrak.bksv.com/smo, find the plane on the map, click on it to reveal its ID and other data, and then click the notepad icon to file a complaint.

 

[The Webtrak site has a few quirks: it takes 20 minutes to post information (if you see a plane at noon, you won’t find noontime data until 12:20); if you want to see earlier information, you have to change the Mode (in the lower left corner) from “Show current flights” to “Historical”; and if you want to be contacted about the flight’s violation, you have to fill in the form’s email and/or phone boxes, though those aren’t indicated as mandatory fields.]

 

If you’ve been following the negotiations between the City and the FAA over the future of SMO, you know that it’s an uphill battle. Yet the community seems firmly opposed to the level of current operations, in favor of reducing or eliminating flight activity, and prepared to fight.

 

To wage that fight, they’ll need as much evidence as possible proving that residents object to the status quo and want flight activity curtailed or terminated. And the best way to do that is to report violations whenever you see them.

 

It’s easy to do. It takes just a minute. And it could help keep the skies from becoming as crowded as downtown, the freeways, and Colorado/Cloverfield mini-city. But those are other issues....

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