FAA to Look Anew at Garage in Landing Path

Prompted by continuing concern from the public and local politicians, the Federal Aviation Administration has once again agreed to study whether a six-story parking garage near the end of the Lindbergh Field runway constitutes a flight hazard.

The FAA initiated its latest study of the Laurel Travel Center, 1025 W. Laurel St., on June 10 after receiving a written inquiry last month from Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Coronado), said Elly Brekke, an FAA spokeswoman in Los Angeles.

“We’ve had input from congressmen,” said Brekke. “The news media have been very concerned, the public is very aware of it and, of course, the pilots are concerned.

‘Erase Any Doubts’

“We want to put these concerns to rest and we think this is the best avenue to do it--to double-check it and make sure to erase any doubts.”

The FAA’s decision to initiate yet another study of the structure pleased local public officials, who have maintained that the building makes them uneasy.

“We’ve been expecting to hear this announcement for the last few weeks,” said San Diego City Councilman Ron Roberts, who requested the additional study at a meeting with an FAA official in late April.

“My own feeling is I would feel far more comfortable if that building either came down partly or entirely,” Roberts said.

Questions surrounding the safety of the building, which is 710 feet from the edge of Lindbergh’s runway, became public earlier this year when the Air Line Pilots Assn. wrote to the FAA and complained that the structure was an “accident waiting to happen” because 747s and other jumbo jets have little or no room to clear the structure’s top floor when landing.

Landing Gear Would Hit

The ALPA said its calculations show that the landing gear of a 747 would crash into the travel center’s top floor while descending to Lindbergh at the minimally approved angle. At the same angle, the ALPA wrote, the landing gear of an L-1011 would have clearance of only 1.8 feet and a DC-10’s gear would clear by just 3.8 feet.

The pilots’ group also complained that the FAA didn’t ask for its advice when the federal agency approved construction of the building in 1984. The structure, five stories of parking garage over one floor of commercial space, opened for business in May, 1986.

In response to the ALPA complaints, the FAA conducted a study of the travel center and concluded that it didn’t pose a safety hazard. The agency agreed, however, to install a more sophisticated, $20,000 system of landing lights at Lindbergh.

The decision appeased the pilots, but local politicians say they are still worried about the hazard posed by the building.

“All I know is that, because of some legalistic or bureaucratic screw-up, we’ve now got that parking garage and it’s a problem and I hope we can do something about it, even if it requires the city, the port and the feds to all pitch in and remove a few floors to make it a safe building,” said Louis Wolfsheimer, a San Diego Unified Port District Commissioner. “I would be in favor of that.”

Roberts said Wednesday that he met with FAA Deputy Administrator Barbara McConnell Barrett during a late April trip to Washington, urging her to take another look at the building. Roberts said Barrett promised the added study, which is supposed to include a special flyover by the FAA.

Roberts also said that he has been so worried about the building that he received special permission from American Airlines to sit in the cockpit during a June 10 landing at Lindbergh to see what the structure looks like to the pilot of his Boeing 767.

“All of a sudden, you’re looking out to try to pick up where the runway is and, as you come over the downtown area, you look for the end of the runway,” Roberts said. “And what you see, rather than the end, is this building.

“You literally come right over it.”

Hunter also expressed concerns about the safety of the building in his May 20 letter to FAA Administrator T. Allan McArtor in Washington. The congressman cited the ALPA calculations and added his personal observations.

“This situation, which is well known to the San Diego public, has already cost Lindbergh Field one airline’s business, and it’s a great cause for concern to an already nervous flying public,” Hunter wrote.