Most Noncommercial Flights Still Grounded
From corporate moguls with $40-million jets, to TV news helicopter crews, to student pilots anxious to continue their training, general aviation in America remained largely grounded Friday even as commercial flights again dotted the air.
At 1 p.m. PDT, the Federal Aviation Administration allowed a restricted number of small-aircraft flights to resume. But helicopter news crews remained on the ground nationwide, as did the business flyers unable to meet new FAA restrictions. No student pilots could fly.
And in certain areas, all noncommercial flights remained banned. Teterboro Airport in New Jersey, for instance, fell within a 25-mile radius no-fly zone surrounding New York’s JFK airport. The fleet of corporate-owned jets there maintained by Jet Aviation remained parked, according to Jamie R. Barrett, senior vice president for charter services. A similarly restricted area in Washington kept planes around the capitol grounded, as well.
Only specially trained pilots--who can fly under instrument rules in clouds and low visibility--have thus far been allowed by the FAA to return to the air. And even they remain under the control of the FAA from takeoff to landing.
That constraint has never before imposed before. Until now, pilots could get instrument flight clearance after they were airborne.
At Van Nuys Airport, normally the nation’s busiest general aviation airport, there was not much increase in traffic Friday afternoon, according to an airport representative.
“Everybody’s being very patient,” said Douglas Butler, vice president of operations at Million Air, one of the businesses at Van Nuys catering to corporate fliers. “We’re not the only ones hurting, but our losses are just dollars. Those can be replaced.”
At nearby Burbank Airport, three jets belonging to Walt Disney Studios remained on the ground while top executives, including chairman Peter Schneider, remained stranded in New York. Instead of their normally luxurious jet ride, Schneider and his colleagues would have to get home on a bus that the company chartered with a group of strangers, according to a Disney spokeswoman.
Jeff Lewis, 31, had better luck, along with seven other employees of Self Esteem Clothing who managed to charter a 12-seat business jet from New York to Van Nuys, where they arrived at 3:30 p.m. Thursday.
Like commercial airliners, many corporate jets were stranded in Europe, because of an FAA ban on flights from overseas. Others were diverted to Canada. Several companies faced with such a dilemma then were forced to leave the airplanes in Canada and charter air taxi services, which had been authorized to take to the air. (The corporate jets, under highly nuanced FAA rules, had to remain on the ground for another day.)
Charters aren’t cheap. Charges can range upward of $50,000 to $60,000 for a top-of-the-line business jet flown from coast to coast.
Other planes, including those operated by flight schools, remained on the ground. They operate under visual flight rules with little or no contact with FAA controllers and have not yet been cleared to fly by the agency.
“It’s been very quiet,” said Chris Ellison, of the Van Nuys Flight Center, one of several flight schools on the airport. “Students are calling daily to get out of here. Our instructors are going nuts not being able to fly.”
Santa Monica Airport was even slower to clear pilots to take off and land. Even when the FAA authorized general aviation for instrument flights, Santa Monica did not open its runways for another hour and a half. Airport Manager Robert Trimborn blamed that delay on the FAA’s inability to provide him with written notice allowing a reopening.
Of its own volition, the small airport had decided to keep out air taxis and charters for 23 hours after the federal agency lifted its ban.
“We were just being very conservative in our approach to it,” Trimborn explained. He noted that the Westside facility is “located near some very high buildings,” including Century City’s signature twin office towers.
By midafternoon Supermarine, the jet service center at Santa Monica, had fueled only three business jets, according to Scott Wardell, a Supermarine executive.
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Times staff writer Gina Piccalo contributed to this story.
