What has the California Pilots Association done for you lately? To address that question we need to review a huge amount of data. CALPILOTS was formed in 1949 when the Founding Fathers became concerned about the growing developer encroachment on the state’s general aviation airports – yes, it has been a long time, and the fight continues.
There are too many accomplishments to list, so let’s summarize and review some important activities over the years. CALPILOTS has:
- Appeared or officially communicated on airport controversies at Porterville, Los Banos, Chico, Santa Rosa, Taft, Trona, Stovepipe Wells, Oceanside, Torrance, Hawthorne, San Luis Obispo, Dunsmuir, Columbia, Turlock, Delano, Nevada County, Oxnard, French Valley, Gravelly Valley, Corning, San Diego, Brown Field, Santa Maria, San Carlos, Mather Field, Borrego Springs, Brawley, El Toro Marine Base, Van Nuys, Burbank, South Lake Tahoe, Truckee, Petaluma, Modesto, Paso Robles, Coalinga, Bakersfield Municipal, Westover (Jackson), Ried Hillview, Buchanan Field, King City, Long Beach, Shelter Cove, Santa Monica, Agua Dulce, Compton, Watsonville, Half Moon Bay, Oceano, Bryon, Hemet, Elk Grove, Big Bear, Stockton, Palo Alto, San Diego Lindberg, Santa Monica, McClellen-Palomar, Gillespie Field, Montgomery Field, Tulare, Hayward
- Organized 56 statewide airport/pilot groups which are responsible for the protection of their airports. We assisted 34 state airport groups form tax exempt 501 (c)(3) California nonprofit corporations as chapters of CALPILOTS, as well as another 24 which didn’t require nonprofit status
- Provided and continue to provide training for city and county airport land use planners on how to plan for compatible land use around their airports.
- Filed more than a dozen (pro bono) lawsuits to protect airports from developers’ housing encroachments
- Formed a Political Action Committee (PAC) to help pass airport-beneficial legislation and support aviation-friendly candidates
- Partnered with Caltrans Division of Aeronautics compiling the 2003 (and the latest) version of the Airport Land Use Handbook – which is used as a guide to creating reasonable land compatibility around airports, to mitigate noise and safety issues associated with airports – our relationship continues
- Continue to provide land use counseling to city and county officials
- Gained approval a Petition to the FAA to adopt a “Drivers Ed” type of sanction program for inadvertent violations rather than license suspension
- Gained approval from the California Board of Equalization for historical aircraft tax exemption which it tried to eliminate in 2003
- Assisted two CALPILOTS Chapters in negotiating contracts to assume airport management responsibility after the airport sponsors were unable to effectively do so (Turlock and Shelter Cove)
- Continue to provide legal advice to airport/pilot organizations.
- Provided statewide airport/pilot presentations on the importance of, and the issues facing our state general aviation airports.
- Legislation/TSA/FAA Against AB2501/AB700, fought Burbank Part 161 Study (FAA decided against it), wrote augments against TSA’s LASP, SD 8F, and Maintenance Over Sight Proposal, wrote argument against FAA’s Airport Order 5190.6B which affected through-the-fence operations (currently being changed)
- Power Plants – The California Pilots Association has become the nationwide leader on airport power plant incompatibility issues. Power Plant companies are quietly trying to position themselves on, or very near to, airport land without consideration for the safety of general aviation aircraft operations – see Bythe, French Valley, Hayward – (Appeal to the Environmental Appeals Board 3/22/10), and Byron.
You can use our web site search function to inquire about your airport, or you can click Archive above and select Airport Support to view more. We have started to compile all the airport support articles but it is a long manual process due to the inability to use utilities to extract data easily from our old web site. We think you will agree that becoming a member of the California Pilots Association is in yours, and your airports’, best interest. We invite you to join us in the promotion, preservation and protection of our state’s general aviation airports. Join us now!
