General Aviation

The Torrance City Council's approval Tuesday of a general aviation center at Torrance Municipal Airport appeared to put to rest a longstanding dispute over the airfield's future. The council voted 4 to 3--with Councilmen Dan Walker, Bill Applegate and George Nakano dissenting--to accept a $1.8-million bid by NOW Construction Corp. of Santa Fe Springs to build the 9,800-square-foot center.

Los Angeles City Councilman Eric Garcetti on Friday called for measures to keep a highly regarded aviation mechanics school at Van Nuys Airport from shutting down or being moved to smaller facilities elsewhere. Garcetti said he will request at the Jan. 4 council meeting that Los Angeles World Airports, the operator of Van Nuys, and the Los Angeles Unified School District explore ways to ensure the continued operation of the vocational school, which has produced thousands of mechanics during its 40-year history.

After three years of study, John Wayne Airport officials are recommending that the old Edward J. (Eddie) Martin passenger terminal be razed and that a new general aviation terminal be built at another site to serve the crews and other people using charter and private aircraft. The announcement of plans to demolish the old terminal, named for one of the nation's aviation pioneers, has long been expected, since the badly decaying building has been vacant since Sept.

U.S. border authorities have awarded a $99.9-million contract to a New York-based company to develop a radar system to detect low-flying ultralight aircraft used to smuggle drugs from Mexico. The solo-piloted aircraft that resemble motorized hang gliders are difficult to detect with conventional radar technology and can carry payloads up to 250 pounds. The planes fly slowly above areas from San Diego to Arizona, dropping their loads of marijuana before escaping to Mexico. More than 700 incursions, at least two of which occurred over San Diego's Interstate 8, have been reported since the trend began in 2008.

Listening to the news about John F. Kennedy Jr.'s tragic accident, you'd think that general aviation was the most dangerous method of transportation around. In fact, pilots are trained to deal with emergency situations and to make every flight as safe as possible. Every aspect of private piloting, every item taught in ground school and every maneuver in the air is geared toward dealing with emergency situations calmly and capably.

As part of a nationwide campaign to reduce the accident rate in general aviation, federal regulators will hold their first safety workshops in Southern California on Saturday to educate private pilots, flight instructors and mechanics. Of special concern for the Federal Aviation Administration is a category of general aviation involving experimental aircraft, which includes homebuilt planes, vintage aircraft, aerobatic planes and former military aircraft that are now in civilian use. According to the FAA, these aircraft in the last five years have represented about 5% of the total hours flown by private pilots nationally, but are involved in 22% of all fatal accidents.

The Federal Aviation Administration lifted restrictions on the airspace around 30 cities where general aviation planes and helicopters have been prohibited since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. In 27 cities, general aviation pilots will be allowed to return to the air under normal visual flight rules. The other three cities--Washington, New York and Boston--will have increased access to airspace under the order, but some restrictions will remain in effect.

A March 27 letter suggested that the only way to relieve overcrowding at John Wayne Airport is to move general aviation to Los Alamitos Armed Forces Reserve Center. Before rushing off to make a joint use request of the Pentagon, let's review a few facts. The Los Alamitos center provides emergency civil defense services for all of Southern California, a critical use that would be in conflict with the heavy airport operational demands of general aviation. A general aviation airport in the southwest corner of Orange County does not serve the general aviation needs of the county as well as a more central location would.

For those who may not realize the importance of general aviation airports and the vital services they offer the local community and the entire country, recent events give good examples: Earlier this month, local newspapers wrote about officials inspecting freeze-damaged crops. One story read in part, "Following the three-hour tour, officials boarded a twin-engine plane at Camarillo Airport for the return flight to Sacramento." From Sacramento to Ventura County, do a job and return--all in a normal workday.

Now we can add a professor of biology to the large assortment of aviation experts with obvious solutions to skies crowded with leather-helmeted idiots, scarfs obscuring their vision, hell-bent on self-destruction and ready to take out anyone else in the sky or Sepulveda Boulevard. After 25 years in general aviation-related business I do not claim the title of expert, nor can I claim to represent a constituency, but I assure one and all I am personally damn tired of the one-sided attack on all that is general aviation.

Re "Drones tested as tools for police, firefighters," Aug. 5, and "Making room for drones in U.S. skies," Business, Aug. 8 Acting Federal Aviation Administration chief Michael Huerta is "very optimistic" that America's drone makers will soon see the way cleared to have their products flying across our skies. Is he also certain that a poorly constructed, badly maintained or amateurishly controlled hunk of plastic isn't going to come down through a bedroom window or onto a busy freeway?

As part of a nationwide campaign to reduce the accident rate in general aviation, federal regulators will hold their first safety workshops in Southern California on Saturday to educate private pilots, flight instructors and mechanics. Of special concern for the Federal Aviation Administration is a category of general aviation involving experimental aircraft, which includes homebuilt planes, vintage aircraft, aerobatic planes and former military aircraft that are now in civilian use. According to the FAA, these aircraft in the last five years have represented about 5% of the total hours flown by private pilots nationally, but are involved in 22% of all fatal accidents.

Fred Joseph Junk-bond market co-creator Fred Joseph, 72, who as chief executive of investment bank Drexel Burnham Lambert helped create the modern junk-bond market in the 1980s before the firm's collapse, died Fridayin New York of multiple myeloma, said John F. Sorte, chief executive of Morgan Joseph & Co. Inc. Joseph arrived on Wall Street in 1963, joining E.F. Hutton. He later moved to Shearson Hammill, rising to chief operating officer before leaving to join Drexel's corporate finance department in 1974.

For travelers with private pilot licenses, flying on business is not only a means to an end but also a passion. Flying small, piston-engine planes in and out of general aviation airports -- they make up the vast majority of the nation's roughly 5,200 airports -- would not work for the average corporate traveler. In general, most business travelers would find it too expensive and too difficult to manage.

In the state that gave birth to powered flight, engineers for Honda Motor Co. have been quietly developing a small jet airplane that could alter the general aviation landscape. Operating out of a small airstrip in Greensboro, N.C., Japan's second-largest auto manufacturer has begun test flying the HondaJet. It's a prototype of a six-passenger jet that marks a major leap forward in Honda's decades-long ambition to build a highly efficient, low-cost aircraft.

A prototype of a single-engine aircraft designed and developed by Toyota Motor Corp. made its first flight last month, raising eyebrows within the aviation industry as Japan's largest auto manufacturer signaled it was making a significant move forward with its long-held but little-known plans to build light airplanes.

A prototype of a single-engine aircraft designed and developed by Toyota Motor Corp. made its first flight last month, raising eyebrows within the aviation industry as Japan's largest auto manufacturer signaled it was making a significant move forward with its long-held but little-known plans to build light airplanes.

Judging by "Crash Reveals Small Planes as Giant Security Headache" (Jan. 8), the pundits and know-nothings are in full cry over reining in private aviation. May I, an inactive private and commercial pilot and certified flight instructor, offer some comments? Charles Bishop, 15, if he had a student license, could rent an airplane for an hour of practice for his licensing exam, be handed the keys and be on his own. He should have been stopped by his parents, friends, et al., some of whom are coming forward belatedly to tell us they knew he was troubled.

The Federal Aviation Administration lifted restrictions on the airspace around 30 cities where general aviation planes and helicopters have been prohibited since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. In 27 cities, general aviation pilots will be allowed to return to the air under normal visual flight rules. The other three cities--Washington, New York and Boston--will have increased access to airspace under the order, but some restrictions will remain in effect.