Fullerton Airport Upgrades

Once a sewage dumping ground, the flat stretch of land in southwest Fullerton was suitable only for a pig farm nearly a century ago. Then airplanes came along.

The hogs’ haven became a perfect airstrip just before World War I, one of nearly a dozen that sprang up in Orange County as planes began filling the sky in the decades that followed. Fullerton Municipal Airport remains “the last little airport around,” said manager Rod Propst.

Now the 86-acre general aviation facility is getting a much-needed face lift and a new master plan that could mean even further upgrades. Because the airport is landlocked by development, it can’t expand, but officials hope it can become more modern.

The changes come at a time when the city-owned airport has suffered a rash of airplane mishaps, incidents that have marred the facility’s usually excellent safety record.

On July 18, a door flew off a plane taking off from the airport, landing in a nearby transmission shop’s parking lot. The pilot had to make an emergency landing.

On Aug. 8, a small plane headed for the airport was forced to make an emergency landing on a street in Buena Park.

On Aug. 26, four people escaped injury when their plane lost power on a takeoff from the airport and ran off the runway into the grass, then crashed into a fence. The blue and white plane still can be seen along the west wall, lying on its belly.

“We get maybe three incidents a year where something goes wrong,” Propst said. “We just happened to get a year’s worth all in about a month.”

Keep in mind, he said, that the airport has nearly 100,000 takeoffs and landings a year. None of those incidents was related to inadequate conditions at the airport.

Even though the Buena Park landing was of concern to neighbors, the airport has not been a major target of safety worries in recent years. With more than 1 million takeoffs and landings in the last 15 years, there have been 35 accidents, aborted flights or near-collisions either at the airport or by planes using it.

“That airport was here before we were born,” said Emily Levine of Buena Park, who has an interest in airport issues because her home is in a flight pattern. “We all moved here knowing it was there.”

Levine for many years was part of the airport’s noise and safety committee, which includes residents of Fullerton and Buena Park. Its public meetings rarely drew any complaining residents, she said. The last big controversy came in the late 1980s, when some airport officials wanted to expand the runway so jet planes could land. That idea was quickly shot down after an outpouring of opposition from area residents.

But even a safe airport can become run-down without new money.

The airport will spend $2.5 million to rebuild the asphalt on the taxiing ramp south of its 3,100-foot runway, and add wider, safer lanes for planes entering the runway.

The consultant drafting the modernization plan will explore other possible updates, such as changes to helicopter flight paths to curtail noise, increased airport fees and even whether remodeling of the terminal and air traffic tower is needed.

“With the master plan, we might not have a better airport, but it will certainly be more efficient,” Propst said.

The plan is required by the Federal Aviation Administration to make sure the airport has a solid future 20 years from now, Propst said.

The city is negotiating with a consultant who will make recommendations for the master plan proposal, a process that will include public hearings. A few areas that might be considered:

* Changes to the terminal or the adjoining air traffic control tower. Both were built in the 1950s. The tower is accessed by four narrow flights of steps--no elevator. No wheelchair ramps exist to Propst’s second-floor office. But Propst said there’s an argument to keep both the terminal and tower as they are. For one thing, both are historical properties. They also fit the character of the small airport that is nearly 90 years old.

* Altering helicopter flight patterns. Propst gets more resident complaints about helicopters flying over their homes than any complaints about fixed-swing aircraft.

“They’re noisy, and they can vibrate the heck out of your house,” he said.

The California Highway Patrol and the Orange County Fire Authority keep helicopters at Fullerton, as well as a couple of private owners and one of the radio stations. But most complaints are about helicopters that come into the airport merely to refuel.

* Adding hangars. The airport has no room for expansion but does have space for three new hangars, which are badly needed, Propst said. And some hangars showing signs of age may have to come down. But those hangars are actually the most popular, Propst said, because they’re the cheapest.

* Increasing service fees. The airport hasn’t increased its fees to users for more than 10 years, Propst said. A master plan may change that.

That’s not something that would be popular with pilots, said Bill Gosland, a former president of the Fullerton Pilots Assn. Yet Gosland said his group respects the need for a master plan.

“The only way to keep an airport sound is to prepare for its future,” he said. “This is a great airport for us, and we want to keep it that way.”

Why has Fullerton survived while so many others have closed over the last few decades? Propst credits strong support from Fullerton’s city council. But pilots add that its location makes it ideal.

“It’s been called the Disneyland airport, because it’s so close to [the amusement park],” Gosland said. “It’s convenient to a lot of places.”

Fullerton, like many other general aviation airports, doesn’t have the business it used to. It has a capacity for 600 planes, but now carries about 350 on a daily basis.

Tom Polley, one of the founders of Ray’s Flying School based at Fullerton, said most pilots will welcome the upgrade of runway’s south ramp.

The airfield sits on a water table that caused some flooding problems in the past. Propst said the plan is to dig down at least several feet to make sure the new ramp has stability.

Another welcome change will be widening the taxiing lanes--now between 50 and 60 feet--to 64 feet, conforming to FAA recommendations.

Whatever happens on a master plan, Propst is convinced the airport will remain in the black. It pays for itself through its rental fees without tapping city funds. And about 95% of the upgrades will be paid for through FAA and state funding.

Whatever changes might be made, Propst is convinced Fullerton will remain popular with pilots because it fits its official motto: “Flyer Friendly.”

“Our air traffic controllers treat pilots with respect,” he said.

Gosland agrees. It helps, he said, that Propst is a pilot himself.

“It’s the attitude they have that keeps us there,” Gosland said. “It will be inconvenient when they do the work, but the place won’t lose pilots. We get from Fullerton what we can’t get anywhere else.”