GOLDEN STATE NOTAMS
(News of interest to California’s 72,000 pilots)
Oceanside (OKB): The Oceanside Airport Association continues to make great strides in unifying their pilot population as well as members of the community. At their April 6th BBQ, over 300people turned for the event, co-sponsored by Sea Winds Aviation.
Among the surprise attendees were three members of the Oceanside City Council, two of whom joined the Airport Association (Jack Feller and Carol McCaully).
OAA has evolved rapidly since their first official membership meeting January 2002. As a chapter member of the California Pilots Association, they have taken advantage of the 501(c)3 status to create the Oceanside Airport PAC (political action committee), with strong organizational support from Gary Parsons, Pat Carey, and the Hawthorne Airport Community Association.
Several local businesses have committed to supporting the PAC with future donations, and OAA created an e-mail address to provide additional contact capability ([email protected])
OAA also joined the Oceanside Chamber of Commerce, where after an initial meeting, many members present offered public support for the airport. Further contact with the public came in March when OAA president Alan Cruise went on community cable television (KOCT) to offer Oceanside residents the opportunity to call in and voice their opinions about the airport. C.C. Charity, from Citizens Against Oceanside Airport, presented the opposing view.
The show was a real success for OAA, and it inspired another communications effort, a five minute public access message produced at KOCT. This segment has been airing regularly, making the presence of OAA even more legitimized in the community’s eyes.
For more information about OAA, give their website a look at www.oceansideairport.org.
Santa Barbara (SBA): CPA recently provided short notice support for the Santa Barbara airport’s efforts to develop a 1000-foot safety overrun at the ends of runway 07/25. Letters were sent to the California Coastal Commission in support of building the overrun instead of the environmentally proposed Engineered Materials Arresting System, a flypaper-like material that provides no arresting capability for aircraft weighing over 12,500 pounds.
Much of SBA’s traffic consists of commuter aircraft which would have not been provided additional safety options in the event of an overrun had the EMAS been approved. FAA Western Pacific Region Office had also officially stated in no uncertain terms that EMAS was not a viable option for SBA, and further stated that “EMAS is not a substitute for, nor equivalent to, any length or width of runway substitute area.”
At the California Coastal Mission hearing, enough members of the pilot community spoke out in favor of the suggested Runway Safety Area overruns to sway the Council’s vote. Significant here is the quick action taken given the very short notice.
One point made repeatedly clear to the Commission was that construction of the safety overrun area would not increase the useable runway length nor increase the amount flight operations into SBA. [end]
