Pilots Urge End to New Safety Rules

A group of Ventura County pilots Tuesday asked county supervisors to repeal a newly imposed rule to clear wooden benches, computers and other equipment from airport hangars that airport officials say increases fire and safety hazards.

The order was issued just weeks before newly hired Airports Administrator Rodney Murphy takes over the county’s Department of Airports. Supervisors Tuesday approved Murphy’s hiring at an annual salary of $68,562.

The dozen pilots who appeared before the board also asked to be exempted from a new rule that requires their hangars to be inspected before they are issued key cards to activate electronic gates at airports in Camarillo and Oxnard.

The Department of Airports issued the cleanup order April 20, citing fire and safety concerns. The order, which also bans the building of airplanes in the hangars, calls for compliance by May 9.

“The severity of the requirements (is) ridiculous,” charged Nathan Rambo, a retired engineer and administrator who maintains a hangar at Camarillo Airport. “It is designed to be implemented days before the new administrator takes over.”

The pilots, many of them members of the Experimental Aviation Assn., which builds its own aircraft, said timing of the order is also troublesome because it comes just three weeks before the association’s fly-in. The annual event is attended by 8,000 pilots from around the country.

“Let’s at least delay that date until after the air show,” said pilot Bill Melly, a hangar owner at Camarillo Airport since 1985.

Supervisors Chairwoman Vicky Howard agreed that the order is inappropriate and should be rescinded.

“I was very disturbed about it,” she said. “We’re working very hard to bring business and government together, and I thought that (memo) was not in the spirit that the Board of Supervisors would like to have with businesses.”

Supervisor John K. Flynn, a member of the county’s Airport Authority, said there have been some instances in which airport hangars were improperly used for storage for items other than aircraft.

“We need to make sure we have two safe airports,” he said. “But I do think there is a degree of harassment for airport users (in the order). I would like to see an end to this.”

The memo was not issued in time for either the Board of Supervisors or the Airport Authority to place an item on their agendas for official action.

Howard said it is unlikely that either the board or the Airport Authority could meet on the topic in time to rescind the order before it takes effect.

Airports Operations Manager Nona Makinson, who issued the order, could not be reached for comment.