Nov 29, 2007 8:20 am US/Pacific
Fast Jets May Be Banned From Santa Monica Airport
SANTA MONICA (CBS) ―
A dispute has arisen between Santa Monica and the Federal Aviation Administration over the city's decision to ban the fastest jets now using Santa Monica Airport.
Citing safety, the Santa Monica City Council voted Tuesday to ban such jets as the Gulfstream IV, Challenger and Citation X aircraft popular with business executives.
By a 7-0 vote, the council approved an ordinance that a city staff report states would protect public safety, particularly that of residents living next to the ends of the airport runway, and individuals using and working at the airport, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The FAA vowed to challenge the ban, which is set for a second and final vote in January.
Residents of Santa Monica and the Mar Vista section of Los Angeles have complained for years that the airport's lack of runway buffers and its location on a plateau with steep drop-offs creates the potential for a deadly accident should an aircraft roar past the end of the runway, according to The Times.
"Landings and takeoffs at the airport have been likened to aircraft operations on an aircraft carrier," the report says. "There is little or no margin for error."
In a letter to Mayor Richard Bloom, the FAA vowed to use "all available means" to fight the ordinance so that "no aircraft is denied access" to Santa Monica Airport, The Times reported.
"What you are considering by this proposed ordinance is flatly illegal as drafted," said D. Kirk Shaffer, the agency's associate administrator for airports, according to The Times.
Shaffer's letter reiterated that the city should consider buying and tearing down houses close to the ends of the runway, a proposal that Bloom called "offensive and absurd," The Times reported.
(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
