FAA CAVES...SANTA MONICA HAS A BIG WIN

If you have followed my Blog for awhile, you have read some columns I have written about Santa Monica Airport (SMO) over the years. This battle has gone on for a long time.

I stated earlier that to win a seat on the City Council you had to be anti airport. Santa Monica is the only city that I know of, in order to serve on the Airport Commission, you also had to be anti airport.

On Saturday the FAA and the City of Santa Monica published an agreement that SMO will close December 31, 2028; and that the runway could be shortened immediately from 5,000 feet to 3,500 feet. I imagine that the tenants have already been notified that this will happen very quickly. The irony here is that the planes that will not be able to use SMO any longer are the quietest of all planes on the field. G V's and other planes of that genre are among the quietest planes flying today. With the reduction of useable runway only piston, turboprops and lighter jets will still be able to use SMO.

I have not flown into SMO in recent years as I did not want to support businesses that were anti airport. I do miss going there but refuse to spend any money in a city that does not support its airport. Santa Monica and Venice Beach are beautiful cities and very walkable. We never had to rent a car, and just took a cab to town and back. These were pre Uber days.

I was really surprised that the FAA caved on this. My understanding was that the airport was deeded to the city for perpetuity, as long as it remained an operating airport. SMO quit taking grants from the FAA so as to close the airport in 20 years from the last grant received. SMO stated they would close the airport in 2023. Every time this was brought up the FAA stated the airport would not close. The city sued the FAA on various occasions losing every time.

What prompted the FAA to reach this egregious decision is beyond reason. I have never trusted the FAA, and this agreement goes to further this cause. AOPA and NBAA says the battle is not over. Unfortunately I am afraid it is. This is very upsetting for general aviation as it can set a precedence of other city airports closing across the country.

I have never been to an airport before where housing is lined next to the airport fence. The city states they are going to build a park when the airport closes, and I would not bet my life on that. There might be a very small park but look for high rise buildings to be developed.

All being said this is a very sad day for general aviation.