Pacoima activists call for closure of Whiteman Airport as county dwindles investigation into its closure – Daily News
Pacoima activists, citing harmful emissions and the risk of accidents from activities at Whiteman Airport, rallied around officials Wednesday near an emergency landing of a pilot who narrowly escaped a collision with a Metrolink train earlier this month to request that the facility be closed for recreational use.
On January 9, a Cessna 172 pilot made an emergency landing on the tracks off San Fernando Road. He was escorted to safety by police just seconds before a train crashed into his crashed plane.
“We see these accidents too often, and we can’t come here every time there’s an accident,” said Veronica Padilla-Campos, executive director of Pacoima Beautiful, an organization campaigning for the airport’s closure.
“What are we waiting for?” She said. “Are we waiting for an explosion? Are we waiting for a certain number of people to die? Don’t get confused. Every day people die because of the airport, because of the leaded fuel that planes use.”
The group also previously drew attention to a fatal plane crash in November 2020 that resulted in the death of the pilot and burned cars and front yards in a residential neighborhood.
Crystal Reyes, who lives in Pacoima, said some dismissed the concerns of local residents who live near the airport and others who frequent the busy streets in the area.
“I think that it’s not okay for them to pretend that this isn’t a big deal, that this isn’t a risk to our community — it’s just not okay,” she said.
Padilla-Campos said their call to close Whiteman Airport does not include areas used for emergency operations and instead targets the area used for recreational purposes “that serves no needs and is killing this community.”
David Kolstad, treasurer of both the Whiteman Airport Association and the Experimental Aircraft Association, said on Wednesday that the calls and studies to close the airport were premature.
“It’s normal to overdo the dramatic,” he added, before explaining that the pilot in the recent crash did what he would have done in his situation, by scouting for a landing pad during a power outage.
“It was a train accident, not a plane accident, because the train passed a few minutes later,” he said. “You know, the guy was a little hurt, but not bad. He did exactly the right thing… I think they’re making a big deal out of a relatively small number of accidents.”
The rally came a day after the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors ordered the Department of Public Works to begin gathering the data and documents that would be needed to complete the process of requesting the closure of Pacoima’s Whiteman Airport of the Federal Aviation Administration.
The county has not yet decided whether to make such a request, but the request approved Tuesday, Jan. 25 and introduced by supervisor Sheila Kuehl, who represents the area, lays the groundwork for such action, if one such a recommendation should be promoted.
The county community advisory committee examining a redesign of Whiteman Airport is scheduled to meet Thursday, January 27 at 6 p.m
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