Fullerton Airport Furor Rekindled by Incident Near School : Anxiety Takes Off Again After Plane Crash

Frank Rodriguez at first heard a “roughness” in the single engine of the Grumman Tiger AA-5 on Friday afternoon. The aircraft began losing altitude and airspeed.

The flight instructor took the controls from his student and looked around for an open field. Rodriguez saw Fern Drive Elementary School in Fullerton below, so he aimed for a landing in the schoolyard. He was close, crashing into the front yard of a house across the street.

It was a scenario some residents have anticipated, and on Saturday they were angry.

“This is something we were afraid was going to happen. We were very fortunate this time,” said Patricia A. Keele, who lives two doors from where the plane came to rest. “Nobody was badly hurt or killed. But we’re very afraid. If those children had been coming out of school at 3:15 or 3:30 the way they usually do. . . .”

Had it been a typical day, the area would have been filled with children milling around after school. But last week was one of two in the school year when children were sent home early because of teacher-parent conferences, said teacher Jean Crum. The plane crashed around 3:35 p.m.

Both Rodriguez, 23, of Cerritos, an instructor with Wings Expression Aviation, and his passenger, Cecil Young, 53, of Orange, were in fair condition Saturday at St. Jude Hospital and Rehabilitation Center in Fullerton. Both sustained cuts and bruises, and Young suffered a head injury.

Rodriguez said Saturday that when he realized he was in trouble, he looked for something that would break his speed, so he picked out a tree.

“I was aiming for anything that was able to slow me down,” said Rodriguez, who said he has logged 1,500 hours of flight while his student has 200. “I proceeded to purposely hit the tree to slow me down and get to the ground.”

The tree on the edge of the school grounds ripped off the plane’s right wing. The plane flipped over and landed on the front lawn of Harry and Donna Provance’s home.

Fullerton resident Carl Stevenson was home from work sick Friday when he saw television coverage of the crash. He recognized the area from the aerial view of the site even before the newscaster announced it was next to the school.

Stevenson was one of several residents who spearheaded an unsuccessful referendum drive to overturn a new ordinance that in effect allows some small jets to use Fullerton Municipal Airport. The same group had also complained repeatedly to city and airport authorities about low-flying planes in flight paths over the city.

The safety of children at Fern Drive Elementary School, which is under one of the flight paths, was one of the concerns expressed at a Sept. 30 council meeting attended by about 400 people, mostly from Fullerton and neighboring Buena Park.

But that night, the council approved an ordinance deleting the “no jets” clause from an old law. The Federal Aviation Administration had told the city that the clause might discriminate against a particular type of aircraft and subject the city to suits.

Although city officials assured residents that the ordinance includes new penalties for pilots who violate a variety of flight regulations and that it would not lead to a flood of jet traffic, many people left the meeting in anger. They said they feared an accident similar to the one involving an Aeromexico jetliner Aug. 31 in Cerritos that killed 82 people.

Council ‘Wouldn’t Listen’

“We tried to tell the council. They wouldn’t listen to us. We wish the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) would do something to keep the planes from passing by our school this low,” Crum said. She said she heard the plane fly by Friday but gave it no special thought because “you cannot get panicked over every one” flying low.

Stevenson said: “That plane was probably 3,000 pounds. If it had been 12,000 pounds, it would have razed two or three houses.”

The city’s ordinance allows planes weighing up to 12,500 pounds to use the airport. Stevenson and others had urged the council to lower that figure. The accident Friday may be the catalyst 1718579744the city’s law, Stevenson and Crum said Saturday.

But Fullerton Mayor A.B. (Buck) Catlin said: “It is a question of air commerce. The airport was there long before the homes were there. When you build homes under a flight path, that’s a risk you take.”

Buena Park Mayor Don Griffin said residents in his city also have been dissatisfied with low-flying airplanes using Fullerton’s airport and with that city’s new ordinance that allows small jets.

Keele, whose children and now grandchildren attend the elementary school, said she couldn’t sleep Friday night. “We’re really shook up,” she said. “This is what we’ve been dreading.”

In another four months, the Fullerton council will review the recently approved ordinance, giving the public an opportunity for further input, Fullerton Councilman Chris Norby said.