Long Beach Class C Meetings – Second Iteration

The FAA has scheduled two (additional) informal airspace meetings on Oct. 25 and 26 2011 in its an effort to establish Class C airspace for the now-Class D airspace in Long Beach, Calif.

FAA SUMMARY: This notice announces two fact-finding informal airspace meetings to solicit information from airspace users and others, concerning a proposal to establish Class C airspace at Long Beach, CA. The purpose of these meetings is to provide interested parties an opportunity to present views, recommendations, and comments on the proposal. All comments received during these meetings will be considered prior to any issuance of a notice of proposed rulemaking.


Most aviation organizations (CalPilots, AOPA, NBAA, EAA) view the airspace change as a quick fix that should be incorporated into a full review of the lgb-airspaceairspace needs of all of Southern California, and encourage their SOCAL members to attend the meetings and submit comments to the FAA.

The meetings set for Oct. 25 and 26 mark a second round of informational sessions intended to help develop a design for the Class C airspace proposal. The FAA held a first round of meetings in June 2010 , resulting in a design that narrowed options for pilots navigating to stay clear of the area, thus reducing safety.

According to AOPA, the new design is smaller and does mitigate some of the impacts of the previous design. However, the FAA still has not committed to a sweeping, full-scale review of the entire southern California area as requested by CalPilots (see below), AOPA, NBAA, EAA, and local pilots.

The informal airspace meetings will be held Oct. 25 and 26 from 6 until 9 p.m. at the Holiday Inn Long Beach Airport, 2640 N. Lakewood Blvd., Long Beach, CA 90815. For more information call 562/597-4401.

SOCAL airspace users are encouraged to submit comments in triplicate by Dec. 12 to John Warner, Operations Support Group, AJV–W2, Western Service Area, Air Traffic Organization, Federal Aviation Administration, 1601 Lind Avenue, SW., Renton, WA 98057.

CalPilots Editors Note:
– Previous meetings were held during business hours subsequently attendance was limited
– What does informal meetings mean?
– Comments in triplicate – really? Where are we in the 1950’s?

MORE – FRon Jack Kenton – CaPilots Director-at-Large andMember of SCAUWG

I think that the proposal shouldn’t use DME radials when there is no DME from which to measure — BUT!!! the big problem that I have with the proposal is that it is a solution for which we have not found a legitimate problem.  And the pilots at Torrance, who are heavily impacted by this, do not have a FAA meeting close to them.