Light-Plane Traffic Over Orange and L.A. Counties

Government agencies must face the fact that there are too many aircraft in the sky over Southern California. Are we to wait for another midair collision such as the one over Cerritos before this problem is addressed?

According to reports in The Times, we have more than 39,000 licensed pilots in Los Angeles and Orange counties, a number doubtless increasing pressure to add more commercial flights. And we have a level of affluence that supports flying as a recreational pastime. The central issue: to what extent can we continue to permit unlimited recreational use of our skies? On a typical Saturday or Sunday, the sound of light planes can be heard over my neighborhood almost incessantly. I have more than once looked up to see two converging planes veer off from each other at the last minute.

General aviation proponents argue that the proportion of recreational flights is not that high, that limiting light-plane traffic would create hardships on business activity. I don’t buy that argument. The dramatic increase in flights over my area on weekends and holidays compared to that on weekdays is surely not due to business travel. And if one follows the stories in the press about light-plane crashes and near-misses, it becomes apparent that the private pilots involved are usually flying for reasons unrelated to business.

The time has come to find a way to limit the number of unnecessary flights over Los Angeles and Orange counties. Already the computers controlling our air traffic are overloaded. Adding more computers will still not solve the problem of all the light planes lacking radar transponders. For the sake of the public safety, the Federal Aviation Administration must start acting like a responsible regulatory agency rather than merely a facilitator of general aviation and recreational flying.

GORDON W. SMITH

Huntington Beach