Santa Monica (CA) – Sometimes your worst enemy is your family.  California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger regularly commutes by private jet from Sacramento to the Santa Monica Airport, but his own brother-in-law wants to put a stop to that.  Santa Monica City Council member Bobby Shriver (brother of Schwarzenegger’s wife Maria Shriver) recently voted to ban large jets from the city’s airport.

The ban was approved unanimously on March 25th 2008, but cities cannot ban air traffic because that’s up to the FAA.  In fact, on April 24th the city received a restraining from the US District Court in Los Angeles and it seems the FAA and the city will eventually duke it out in open court.

However, the city may choose to play nice until the FAA’s lease on the airport runs out in 2015.  Interestingly enough, the lease terms were agreed to after the FAA and AOPA (Aircraft Operators and Pilots Association) had a previous run in with the city over another jet ban.

The city council and residents that pushed the ban claim the airport was built only for propeller planes.  They add that a jet crash at Santa Monica Airport would be disastrous for homes in the surrounding areas.  However, the FAA points out that there has never been a jet accident at the airport despite the thousands of takeoffs and landings performed each year.  According to FAA statistics, Santa Monica Airport saw 18,575 landings and takeoffs in 2007.

As a pilot who started my flight training at Santa Monica Airport, I personally think the airport is perfectly safe for jets.  Small commuter jets like the Gulfstream and Learjet have been operating from this airport for decades and they easily takeoff and land on the 5000-foot runway.

Read more ... Bloomberg.

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