The end of SMO?

NIMBYism is not limited to Southern California, Western Washington is chalk full of NIMBYs. I would hate see SMO suffer the same fate as NAS Sandpoint (http://www.airfields-freeman.com/WA/Airfields_WA_Seattle.htm#sandpoint).

Decades ago, Seattle had the opportunity to turn Sandpoint Naval Air Station into a world class GA airport. The surrounding community demanded a noise study then got one scheduled on a specifically publicized day. What wasn't revealed, the company contracted to conduct the study did so a day early with a Cessna 182, zero noise complaints. On the publicized day, hundreds of noise complaints, but not a single aircraft operation. Today you still see vestiges in the form of hangers designed to accommodate large seaplanes.

More recently, related to the growth of air traffic at SEA, I attended a community meeting where one elderly woman complained "those jets are so low, I could hit that Emirates plane with a rock from my porch". Coincidentally, Emirates was the only airline with their name painted on the belly and if she can hit a jet at 2000 on the approach, she's got a career in baseball. I encountered outright hostility when I spoke to a few folks about how important an airport is to feeding economic growth, especially in Seattle and to people who are 25+ years away from retirement.

I generally find that most people who complain about airports expanding are also the first to complain about rising airfares and diminishing service. In the end, I hope some accommodation can be reached to keep SMO open.
 
Sandpoint would have made a great substitution for Bellevue going away. Bellevue was short and surrounded by urbanity. Sandpoint could have had the pattern be over the water with minimal noise impact. Really a shame. GA doesn't stand a chance against real estate or people who want more urban open land.
 
Sandpoint would have made a great substitution for Bellevue going away. Bellevue was short and surrounded by urbanity. Sandpoint could have had the pattern be over the water with minimal noise impact. Really a shame. GA doesn't stand a chance against real estate or people who want more urban open land.

Remember when that guy put a plane through the front windows of Safeway in Bellevue... And didn't hurt anyone...and lived?!?!
 
No. I only landed there a few times coming from Wenatchee. I drove by it many more times to watch planes, though. Cool airport.
 
Sandpoint would have made a great substitution for Bellevue going away. Bellevue was short and surrounded by urbanity. Sandpoint could have had the pattern be over the water with minimal noise impact. Really a shame. GA doesn't stand a chance against real estate or people who want more urban open land.

Having Sandpoint would have given Seattle a pure light GA airport allowing BFI to focus on Business Aviation and Sea Tac on Part 121 opps. Plus, provide me the opportunity to attend UW, work and get my certs at the same time maybe through a UW flying club (like UT Austin's flying club). Driving to RNT or BFI just didn't fit into my schedule or reliance on bus transportation during college.

Bellevue airport was before my time, but I saw a presentation on James Raisbeck with a unique tidbit about Bellevue. While on LOA from Boeing, he worked for Robertson Aircraft testing a Cessna 177 equipped with transport category high lift devices out of Bellevue. Too bad they added too much weight.

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This thread would be a little shorter if everyone just acknowledged that, generally speaking, people are dumb. Also, for the most part, they combine that highly evolved ignorance with a complete apathetic lack of caring for anyone else but themselves, even when it's at their own expense. (See dumb)
 
I looked at driving VNY to Tamperini, only thirty miles or so and nearly a two hour drive in 'light' traffic.
No.

The company I work for has about 50 offices in SoCal and my job requires I go to all of them.

Friday morning I had a meeting in Simi Valley. From Ontario 90 minutes each way. You have to drive smart and WAZE is your friend.
 
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No.

The company I work for has about 50 offices in SoCal and my job requires I go to all of them.

Friday morning I has a meeting in Simi Valley. From Ontario 90 minutes each way. You have to drive smart and WAZE is your friend.
Having spent most of my career working at VNY, and a couple years working field service with SoCal airports as my area, I can verify that at times it's taken me 2 hours to get from VNY to LAX. Zamperini would be just a little further. Of course it's not always that bad, but there are times it is. I was also under the impression that the city wouldn't be able to close the airport until 2023 because of an agreement with the FAA involving federal grant money. I have to agree that SMO is probably not the safest place to be operating jets from but it would be sad to see it close completely. I know people use LAX for corporate ops but the level of security required for an international airport can be a headache compared to a GA only airport, I suspect most operations would shift to Van Nuys, or to a lesser extent Burbank.
 
Having spent most of my career working at VNY, and a couple years working field service with SoCal airports as my area, I can verify that at times it's taken me 2 hours to get from VNY to LAX. Zamperini would be just a little further. Of course it's not always that bad, but there are times it is. I was also under the impression that the city wouldn't be able to close the airport until 2023 because of an agreement with the FAA involving federal grant money. I have to agree that SMO is probably not the safest place to be operating jets from but it would be sad to see it close completely. I know people use LAX for corporate ops but the level of security required for an international airport can be a headache compared to a GA only airport, I suspect most operations would shift to Van Nuys, or to a lesser extent Burbank.

Along with VNY and SMO, we utilize LAX quite a bit. My personal experience has been easy-peasy. Especially when they're using the South Complex. Atlantic is right there and a quick taxi to 25L (or whatever runway is right there by Atlantic) and you're good to go.
 
In Light Traffic?
Obviously not, in light traffic it usually takes 25-30 minutes. But realistically any hiccup in traffic (accident, stalled car in lanes, construction) going over the Sepulveda Pass will triple or quadruple the amount of time it takes. If you're commuting to LAX from the valley you need get past the brewery by 5:30am to beat the normal morning traffic and even then it's not exactly smooth sailing. I'll admit that I have a deep hatred for the 405 freeway and therefore I'm biased, but that's because I've been forced to waste so much of my life sitting on it in pursuit of the almighty dollar.
 
Obviously not, in light traffic it usually takes 25-30 minutes. But realistically any hiccup in traffic (accident, stalled car in lanes, construction) going over the Sepulveda Pass will triple or quadruple the amount of time it takes. If you're commuting to LAX from the valley you need get past the brewery by 5:30am to beat the normal morning traffic and even then it's not exactly smooth sailing. I'll admit that I have a deep hatred for the 405 freeway and therefore I'm biased, but that's because I've been forced to waste so much of my life sitting on it in pursuit of the almighty dollar.
MTA should have built a light rail down the median,like the 105, during the expansion/widening of the 405.
 
MTA should have built a light rail down the median,like the 105, during the expansion/widening of the 405.
I doubt enough people would use it, the widening did help but a rail line would probably decrease the number of lanes available. I highly doubt they could get any more land to widen it further considering the areas it passes through, Brentwood, West L.A., etc.. There are people that use the Flyaway bus to commute to LAX but it doesn't stop anywhere else, so unless you work at the terminals it's not really a viable alternative. In the last few years quality of life has become more important to me and I've turned down a few opportunities because I don't want to sit in that quagmire on a daily basis. I'll be sitting in traffic on the 405 in about a half hour, but only for about a mile. I can deal with that.
 
I doubt enough people would use it, the widening did help but a rail line would probably decrease the number of lanes available. I highly doubt they could get any more land to widen it further considering the areas it passes through, Brentwood, West L.A., etc.. There are people that use the Flyaway bus to commute to LAX but it doesn't stop anywhere else, so unless you work at the terminals it's not really a viable alternative. In the last few years quality of life has become more important to me and I've turned down a few opportunities because I don't want to sit in that quagmire on a daily basis. I'll be sitting in traffic on the 405 in about a half hour, but only for about a mile. I can deal with that.

I used to use the FlyAway, but sometimes I'd have to wait for 30-45 minutes on the lower level, and by the time it came to terminal 5, it was full. I hated it because it added almost an hour to my commute. The hours I'm using the 405 traffic isn't that bad.
 
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