Buena Park Urges FAA to Investigate Airport

Alarmed over a rash of crashes involving small planes based at Fullerton Municipal Airport, Buena Park officials Tuesday asked the Federal Aviation Administration to take a close look at the facility to determine if it is more hazardous than other, similar-size airports.

The request came in a letter from Mayor Donna L. Chessen to Jerold Chavkin, regional administrator of the FAA in Hawthorne. In it, Chessen asked the FAA to further investigate “numerous crashes of aircraft in the city of Buena Park over the past few years.”

The latest incident came Sept. 13 when a two-seat Cessna 152, carrying an instructor and a student pilot, lost power about a minute after takeoff and crashed at the intersection of Artesia Boulevard and Darlington Street in Buena Park.

Both the student pilot and instructor were injured in the crash, which Buena Park officials said was the 11th in Buena Park since 1966. Although Fullerton officials have maintained that the airport is safe, some members of the Buena Park City Council have called for it to be closed.

No More of a Risk

“We have repeatedly stated our alarm over the situation,” Chessen wrote in the letter. “Our statements have been responded to by the city of Fullerton and the Federal Aviation Administration in a manner which gives the impression that those institutions consider the aircraft crashes in Buena Park as ‘normal’ and as presenting no more of a risk than the flow of vehicular traffic through the city of Buena Park.”

Fullerton officials could not be reached for comment on the letter.

Chessen asked the FAA to conduct a study comparing the Fullerton facility with other general aviation airports in the region. That study, she said, should look at the number of crashes at each facility, where the accidents occurred, the number and types of injuries and fatalities and the number of accidents believed caused by “errors in aircraft maintenance.”

In addition, the FAA was asked to determine “damage to real property” in each accident, the level of aircraft maintenance and inspections by airport FAA staff at each facility and the number of accidents that occur during pilot instruction programs and student solo flights.

Chessen said late Tuesday the letter was written to express the fear shared by many Buena Park residents over the rash of crashes in their city.

“I hope they’ll take us seriously this time,” Chessen said. “We have never had anything in writing before. I hope this letter will prompt real action.”