AOPA Expo 2000
Start planning now to come to this year’s AOPA Expo from October 20 through October 22 in newly rejuvenated Long Beach, California. This year’s show will feature an action-packed exhibit hall with more than 500 displays and demonstrations of the newest and best in aviation products and services. The show will also include more than 80 seminars on the hottest topics—pilot safety, medical issues, aircraft ownership, improving your flying skills, and more. You can even sit in the cockpit of your dream airplane at the static aircraft display. Come for one day or all three. Call 888/GO2-EXPO or visit the Web site ( www.aopa.org/expo/).
Proposed noise ordinance violates law
AOPA has told the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors that a proposed noise ordinance for San Carlos Airport violates federal law. The measure would prohibit touch and goes; low approaches; and full-stop, taxi-back operations during evening, nighttime, and early morning hours. Stop-and-go operations would be prohibited at all times, and simulated emergency maneuvers could not be initiated below traffic pattern altitude. Because of these restrictions, the measure would severely limit flight-training operations at the airport.
When Carol Ford—the AOPA Airport Support Network volunteer for San Carlos and president of the San Carlos Airport Pilot Association—learned that this proposal was once again being "revisited" by the supervisors, she alerted AOPA to the problem and helped to inform the supervisors about the law.
In a letter to the supervisors, Kathleen Yodice, counsel for AOPA, said that federal law requires airport regulations to be fair, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory. The proposal, she added, clearly targets a single class of flight operations, namely training. AOPA also reminded the county that it had contractually agreed to keep San Carlos Airport "available for public use on fair and reasonable terms and without unjust discrimination" when it accepted federal airport funding.
The FAA has already determined that the proposed ordinance would unjustly discriminate against flight-training operations.
AOPA has offered to work with the pilots at San Carlos Airport and the people in surrounding communities to enhance voluntary programs to help limit noise.
A copy of AOPA’s letter to the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors is available on AOPA Online ( www.aopa.org/whatsnew/newsitems/2000/000310sanmateo.html).
Work to create state aviation museum continues
Efforts to create a California Aviation Museum to house the state’s aviation artifacts and historic aircraft are continuing. At a recent meeting that included AOPA Regional Representative Jack Kemmerly and representatives of Caltrans Aeronautics, Sacramento County, and the McClellan Aviation Museum, participants discussed possible locations for a state museum.
Kemmerly and others have been working for years to establish a state aviation museum in Sacramento similar to the California Rail Museum. The closure of McClellan Air Force Base could create a home for the new museum. The County of Sacramento will assume the former Air Force base site and is considering using a 600,000-square-foot rehabilitation hangar to house the museum. Since McClellan and Mather Air Force bases closed, the artifacts from their museums have been consolidated at McClellan and placed under the care of the nonprofit McClellan Aviation Museum Board of Trustees.
California is currently home to 32 different aviation museums and science centers. Proponents of the new state museum are considering ways to develop a network among those facilities that would allow aircraft and other displays to be rotated through various museums and science centers that want to participate.
New measures introduced to legislature
A series of new bills affecting aviation and airports was submitted to the state legislature for the second half of the biennial legislative session, many of them on the February 25 deadline. Bills that could affect AOPA members include:
- Assembly Bill 2252 would add spaceports to the California Airport District Act. The legislation would allow development of landing facilities for space reentry traffic and is part of an effort to enhance California’s competitiveness in commercial space and satellite programs.
- A.B.2389 would eliminate several regional transportation groups in San Diego and replace them with the San Diego Regional Infrastructure and Transportation Agency. Among the agencies that could be eliminated is the San Diego Unified Port District, which owns and operates Lindbergh Field. The proposed regional agency would be empowered to address issues such as airport congestion.
- A.B.2470 would exempt airlines from the sales tax on fuel purchased in California for use beyond the first out-of-state destination. The airlines had such an exemption in the past and are seeking to renew it. The measure would cost the state about $30 million annually. Airlines already are exempt from paying a 2-cent-per-gallon excise tax on jet fuel that general aviation aircraft pay.
- Senate Bill 1084 would provide for Caltrans Aeronautics to review drafts of all local airport land use plans before they can be adopted. The measure, which is supported by AOPA and other members of the California Aviation Alliance, would ensure that some level of aviation expertise is included in reviewing land use planning and development around the state’s airports.
- S.B.1536 would establish a seven-member California Centennial of Flight Commission, appointed by the governor, to plan a celebration of the Wright brothers’ one hundredth anniversary of powered flight.
- S.B.1894 would require the State Aeronautics Account to reimburse local agencies for the costs of airport land use commissions and plans between January 1, 1995, and June 30, 2001.
- S.B.2036 would establish a new state regulatory noise standard and enforcement process for Van Nuys Airport.
VFR waypoints test leads to changes
The testing of proposed VFR waypoints to help pilots navigate special-use airspace and terminal areas has led to some changes in the way the new navigation aids will be identified. Comments from California pilots who are testing the new waypoints resulted in changing the VV identifier prefix to VP to avoid making the waypoint identifiers appear to start with a W. Tests of the waypoints, which have been strongly supported by AOPA, will begin soon in other parts of the country. For more on the waypoints and how to use them, visit AOPA Online ( www.aopa.org/whatsnew/newsitems/1999/vfr_waypoints.html).
Aerobatic symbol considered for charts
Pilots throughout the region could get some help identifying potential hazards to flight with a new symbol slated to appear on some aeronautical charts. The symbol, an upside-down aircraft, would represent areas of aerobatic activity. The symbol would be used in much the same way as the glider and parachute symbols already on sectional and terminal area charts.
From Sonoma to Schulz
Sonoma County Airport will be renamed the Charles M. Schulz–Sonoma County Airport under a resolution passed in March by the county board of supervisors, according to the Sonoma County Press Democrat. Supervisor Paul Kelley said the airport is a fitting memorial to the late Peanuts cartoonist who "brought a lot of joy and happiness to children and adults throughout the world." Schulz kept an airplane at the airport.
Getting off track
BMW race cars conducting high-speed rides on a portion of the Whiteman Airport in Los Angeles does not sound like a good idea, does it? As soon as John Marshall, AOPA’s Airport Support Network volunteer, became aware of the situation, he began to investigate and discussed concerns with the airport management. He also contacted the FAA district and regional offices regarding the situation, which prompted their investigation. Because of Marshall’s quick response time and persuasive pleas on behalf of general aviation, the airport sponsor required BMW to install temporary barriers so that onlookers and aircraft are not in immediate danger.
Dyer wins state award from AOPA
AOPA has presented its annual Joe Crotti Award to Richard G. "Dick" Dyer for making the greatest contribution to California aviation advocacy during 1999. Dyer is widely acknowledged in California and nationally for his expertise on airport noise issues. He helped to develop California’s first-in-the-nation airport noise regulations in 1970. Since then, Dyer has managed their application and educated both the aviation community and airport neighbors on noise compatibility issues. He has worked tirelessly to smooth relations between airports and their neighbors.
