Lazaro Gonzalez, who works at a hangar near Whiteman Airport in Pacoima, was arriving to work on Tuesday morning when he noticed a commotion – firefighters, onlookers and a completely wrecked small plane in the parking lot outside of the landing area.
Just eight weeks after the April 20 crash landing of a single-engine Cessna in Pacoima – where it ended up upside down in the parking lot of an O’Reilly’s Auto Parts store on Van Nuys Boulevard – it was yet another plane wreck out of Whiteman, Gonzalez realized.
“It’s scary because, you know, I work here and sometimes I’ll be here for three or four hours, maybe five hours in the hangar,” Gonzalez told the San Fernando Valley Sun/el Sol about the accident happening so close to his workplace. “Sometimes I ride my bike back and forth [in this area] for maybe one hour … so it’s gonna be a little scary for me after this [crash].”
The accident involving the single-engine plane was reported at 9:11 a.m. on June 16, just beyond Whiteman’s runway, near 12653 W. Osborne St. The plane had landed on the runway, but its landing gear didn’t deploy properly, causing it to skid through a perimeter fence before stopping in the adjacent parking lot.
The 77-year-old pilot was transported to the hospital, visibly distressed, but suffered only minor injuries.
Local elected officials, including LA City Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez were quick to respond with written statements. They have been calling for the airport to be shut down for years, along with Pacoima Beautiful, who has led the charge and organized the community advocating for the airport’s closure. They claim there are potential health hazards to nearby residents, including potential lead exposure, and safety risks, citing the recent crashes and accidents in 2022 and 2020.
Cinthia Rodriguez, school site director for Vaughn Next Century Learning Center’s G3 Campus in Pacoima, wants to see Whiteman shut down. Her concerns escalated after the April 20 crash in Pacoima, “less than a mile from our school,” she told the San Fernando Valley Sun/el Sol.
“It was a frightening reminder of the risks our students and staff face every day because of the airport’s proximity,” said Rodriguez. “The crash caused a power outage that forced us to close school for the remainder of the day. … More importantly, I could not stop thinking about how much worse the situation could have been had the plane crashed any closer to our campus. The potential consequences for our students, families and staff are unimaginable.
“As a lifelong Pacoima resident, this issue is deeply personal to me,” she continued. “Beyond the concerns of noise pollution, environmental impacts and public safety, what is most troubling is that Pacoima receives little benefit from the airport while bearing its burdens.”
For Tracey De Lucas, a barber and hairdresser who lives in the City of San Fernando, the situation isn’t quite so clear. Though she believes Whiteman does pose a “big risk to anybody who’s in the [surrounding] community,” she worries that shutting it down could result in greater aircraft and flight congestion at other local airports. There is also the possibility that air traffic could increase as even more planes could travel overhead en route to another airport.
The solution, De Lucas believes, is to conduct thorough investigations into the root causes of recent crashes – but they should be investigations that are not politically motivated, she noted.
“I feel like they need to investigate a little bit closer, to see whether it’s a problem with the pilots, the mechanics, the [planes] or the infrastructure,” said De Lucas. She wonders, for example, if there is enough oversight regarding the pilots who are allowed to fly in and out of the airport.
“I feel they need to find out what the real problem is before they actually close down,” she said.
Roberto Barragan, executive director of ICON CDC (Initiating Change in Our Neighborhoods Community Development Corporation), believes the solution is straightforward: close it down. He said ICON CDC commissioned a Whiteman Airport Reuse Study in 2023 to identify industries that could be recruited to repurpose the land currently being used by the airport.
The study – submitted to LA County officials, who are conducting their own land-use study – suggests creating a mixed-use plan featuring multiple industries, including the film industry, light industry, medical device/biotech, computers/software, retail, workforce and affordable housing.
“Situated in an urbanized area and adjacent to schools, churches and parks, Whiteman Airport, and its use [of] personal aircraft for the past 75 years, is no longer sustainable and continues to endanger local residents,” said Barragan.