El Monte Airport Lands on the Map

Van Nuys Airport owns the title of busiest general aviation field in the world. Santa Monica Airport offers visitors the Typhoon Restaurant, Pan-Asian cuisine and plane parking available. Chino features the Planes of Fame Museum. And then there is El Monte Airport.

“As a destination, ain’t nothing at all to draw you to El Monte,” said pilot Bob Clark, who knows airports--he’s landed at every one in California.

But after years of being airport non grata in general aviation circles, El Monte is coming of age. Los Angeles County, which owns the facility, has built an approximately $1.5-million terminal, complete with a lounge, computerized weather data, a direct line to the Federal Aviation Administration and space for a restaurant.

In the clubby world of pilots--who for fun spend $100 flying across the state for a burger at some greasy airport restaurant--this is big news. It’s a new destination, another reason for the weekend pilot to go putt-putting around Southern California airspace.

In celebration, a bunch of San Gabriel Valley pilots held a barbecue Saturday outside their soon-to-be-open terminal, with its floor-to-ceiling windows with a view of the airfield.

For general aviation pilots, small airports such as El Monte are much like parks, gathering places to socialize and pursue their hobby: flying.

Beneath the shade of a tarp on a grassy tarmac area, they talked about planes and how their hometown airfield is about to become a brighter beacon to fellow pilots.

“We feel complete now as an airport,” said Scott Stevenson, president of the San Gabriel Valley Airport Assn. “Now we will have a place to go, a place to meet people, all the basics that we’ve never had.”

For business travelers who fly in small planes, the new terminal building means that El Monte--the closest general aviation field to downtown Los Angeles--has a chance to increase sagging business. Currently, half of its 700 tie-down spaces are leased, and a few hangars are vacant.

Law enforcement agencies that use the airport and delivery service providers will have a sound base of operation. Visitors will no longer have to stand on a patch of dry grass near the tarmac when waiting for arrivals to taxi in. Pilots will have a place to rest and file flight plans. A community meeting room will be available.

And for those aviation enthusiasts who make a hobby out of watching flying machines take off and land, the terminal will offer a raised terrace with tables and umbrellas overlooking the 4,000-foot runway.

Most of the pilots have simple tastes. They are looking forward to a coffee shop where they can enjoy an after-flight meal and chat with their buddies.

“That’s what we do. We fly somewhere Sunday, have breakfast or lunch and fly home,” said Bill Borghardt, who owns three small planes and has been flying for 33 years. Borghardt was active in the airport association back in the late ‘70s, when the group first asked the county to build a terminal.

“The new terminal is long overdue,” said Tom Lowry, the airport project manager for the county’s Department of Public Works.

The county owns five airports that last year generated $8.2 million. The largest, in terms of revenue, is Brackett Field in La Verne, followed by Whiteman in Pacoima, El Monte, Compton and Fox Field in Lancaster.

A private contractor, American Airports Corp., runs the five airports. The firm guarantees the county at least $2.8 million in profit from all the airport operations. That money is reinvested in airport maintenance and improvements, Lowry said, including payments on the construction loan to build the El Monte terminal.

Although El Monte can’t compare in popularity with, say, Catalina Airport or Big Bear, with their awesome views and nearby recreational offerings, it is known as a good place to learn to fly.

Student pilots don’t have to compete with jets, like at Van Nuys and Burbank, and the air traffic is relatively tame.

For California history buffs, El Monte Airport does hold a special distinction. Its central location made it the ideal base of operation for the notorious fleet of Bell 204 helicopters that in the dark of night sprayed malathion over wide sectors of Los Angeles and Orange counties during the great Mediterranean fruit fly infestation of 1989-90.