Members of the Whiteman Airport Coalition addressed dozens of area residents and the Pacoima Neighborhood Council (PNC) about the economic and community benefits of the local airport amid an ongoing study exploring its proposed closure.
Residents, pilots, business owners and other stakeholders launched the coalition about two months ago to “fight” against what they view as “misinformation” about the Pacoima airport.
“The future is up in the air,” said coalition spokesperson Tara Finestone. “We’re going to neighborhood councils, we’re talking to lawmakers, we’re talking to community members. A lot of people really don’t understand what’s going on and what’s at stake with the potential closure of Whiteman airport, which is a critical infrastructure landmark for Los Angeles County.”
Advocacy groups, such as Pacoima Beautiful, and some local residents disagree. Over the past several years, many people have called for Whiteman to be closed, citing, in part, potential health hazards, such as lead exposure, and safety risks, including a fatal accident in 2020, when a pilot was killed, and a non-fatal collision between a Metrolink train and an aircraft in 2022.
Last week’s meeting was held less than a week before an April 20 accident in Pacoima, where a single-engine Cessna clipped high-voltage power lines and crashed landed upside down in the parking lot of an O’Reilly’s Auto Parts store near Ralston Avenue and Van Nuys Boulevard, blocks from Whiteman Airport.
The pilot was the only person on board when the plane went down; he survived the crash and was transported to a local hospital, where he continues to recover, according to the coalition. No other injuries or major property damage were reported in the aftermath of the crash.
Tara Finestone, spokesperson for Whiteman Airport Coalition
“Because [LA County Fire and Cal Fire] were able to stage at Whiteman … [they] stopped the fires from merging.”
In February 2023, the Whiteman Airport Community Advisory Committee (CAC) voted to recommend the closure of Whiteman following a nearly two-year assessment. The next year, the LA County Board of Supervisors approved a $1.9 million study looking into the possible impacts of shutting down the airport, which was established in 1946 and acquired by LA County in 1970.
The county’s current study, which is being conducted by a consulting firm, includes a four-phase plan to assess the various steps that would be required to close Whiteman. It is also exploring land-use alternatives for the airport’s 180-plus acres of land, including affordable housing.
Community Concerns
Finestone and other coalition members believe the safety and health concerns attributed to the airport have been overstated.
“Any accident is horrible and any loss of life is horrific – that is number one,” said Finestone. She pointed out that the overall accident rate is exceedingly low, especially considering that there are up to 100,000 airport operations per year, which include all aircraft takeoffs and landings.
Regarding lead exposure, she said the LA County Department of Health and the South Coast Air Quality Management District studied community lead levels and found “they’re far below EPA [Environmental Protection Agency] standards, and [local] children’s blood levels were also below EPA standards as well,” said Finestone, noting that those studies are available online.
“The biggest pollution risk around here are the freeways; that has been established,” she added.
However, in the fall of 2023, the EPA announced that exposure to lead emissions from aircraft that utilize leaded fuel “can cause irreversible and life-long health effects in children.”
Diosy Reyes, a long-time Pacoima resident and co-founder of Voces Unidas Pacoima (now Voces Unidas San Fernando Valley), discussed her health concerns about Whiteman via Zoom.
“Our community has a really harsh history with environmental injustices, [including] industrial pollution,” said Reyes, noting she believes the airport contributes to that potentially dangerous pollution, especially due to the continued use of leaded fuel by many aircraft that use the airport.
“Leaded fuel is the last fuel that has not been transitioned out. We have had such successes in being able to introduce unleaded aviation fuel [as an] alternative fuel that is being offered to airports throughout the country,” she added. “We understand that you have your hobbies and you want to make sure that this airport stays open, but there is a need to recognize that … this airport has multiple issues beyond just accidents. It’s a public health issue [affecting] the community.”
Estevan Roth, a Pacoima resident and pilot with Latino Professionals in Aerospace, said the transition to unleaded fuel is in process at Whiteman.
“We are one of the few airports that have the option right now to use unleaded fuel for aircraft, but it’s not an airport-only decision; it’s also [the decision of] aircraft owners,” said Roth. Part of the challenge is that “not all aircraft are certified or approved for the transition to unleaded” fuel.
“It’s something that is [happening] at Whiteman,” he said, “but it will be a matter of time.”
In response to community concerns regarding noise pollution stemming from the airport, Nathan Clark, a pilot and flight instructor with Vista Aviation at Whiteman, emphasized that closing the local airport is unlikely to result in a reduction in noise from planes flying overhead.
“If Whiteman’s airspace gets dissolved, this will more than likely just become perfect airspace” for nearby airports – specifically for Burbank and Van Nuys, explained Clark. “The little Cessna flying over that sounds like a small lawnmower will be traded for 737 [jetliners].”
In addition, he said, “This area will still be covered in Cessnas, just going in and out of Van Nuys Airport” instead of Whiteman.
Benefits of Whiteman
Whiteman’s diverse economic and community benefits are often either overlooked or simply remain unknown by the general public, noted Finestone. She described the airport as a “vital economic engine” for LA County, with “$110 million [flowing] into your economy every year.”
Some of the businesses at the airport include KTLA 5 News, Vista Aviation, Keystone Aerial Surveys and Glendale Community College, which has a flight school there. There are also public safety agencies that operate out of Whiteman, such as the U.S. Marshals Service, CAL FIRE (California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection) and the LA County Fire Department.
Finestone said Whiteman played an important role during last year’s LA wildfires.
“In January 2025, when the whole firestorm was going on, the Hurst Fire was burning [in Sylmar] and the Eaton Fire was burning in Pasadena – they could have merged and I can’t even imagine the catastrophic fire that would have [resulted],” she said. “Because [LA County Fire and CAL FIRE] were able to stage at Whiteman … [they] stopped the fires from merging.”
Meanwhile, said Finestone, “The county is spending millions to study [the airport’s] closure, but there is a fundamental legal question that has not been resolved” – whether the county would even have the ability to shut it down, she said.
“Whiteman operates under federal grant assurances tied to an agreement with the FAA [Federal Aviation Administration] dating back to 1998. These obligations require the airport to remain open unless the FAA formally releases it. So this is not even a local decision,” said Finestone.
“To date, the FAA is giving no indication that it’s willing to approve closure,” she continued. “So why is the county investing significant public funds to study an outcome that might not be even legally viable in the first place?”
Further, said Finestone the county could help support overall airport safety, “but is choosing not to invest in Whiteman.”
“There are federal funds that are available that the county can apply for to do infrastructure improvements every year, like the runway, like upgrading the tower, and these are safety improvements, but the county has chosen not to do this,” she said. “Supervisor Lindsey Horvath has ordered public works not to take FAA funding. She froze this several years ago. So it’s not about a lack of resources, it’s just a lack of action.”
PNC Board Member Reuben Garcia, who chairs the neighborhood council’s public safety and health committee, believes the effort to close Whiteman is motivated by financial incentives.
“It’s about money and [LA City Councilwoman] Monica Rodriguez, the county supervisor and other politicians have their pockets open. That’s what that’s all about,” claimed Garcia. “Because the one question nobody … will answer, is if [they’re] going to close the airport, what are [they] going to put there [to replace the airport]? And no one will give you that answer – nobody.”
PNC member Walter Garcia, who shared concerns about Whiteman, including the most recent accidents, said the lack of a plan shouldn’t dissuade people from supporting the airport’s closure.
“The idea that, because we don’t know … what would happen there that somehow that uncertainty means [it shouldn’t close] is disrespectful to the community,” said Walter Garcia, who was born and raised in Pacoima. “At the end of the day, the people here … can come up with ideas.”
For information about the Whiteman Airport Coalition, go to: https://whiteman-airport-coalition.beehiiv.com.