Another crash at L.A. County’s Whiteman Airport is sparking calls for federal reform

Firefighters responded to a small airplane crash at the Whiteman Airport in Pacoima, a wreck caused by faulty landing gear within the aircraft, airport officials said.

Firefighters responded to a solo crash of a Cessna airplane just after 9 a.m. Tuesday, according to a Los Angeles Fire Department incident alert.

Based on initial reports of the incident, the pilot — a 77-year-old man — and the sole passenger in the aircraft safely landed on the runway but the landing gear did not deploy properly, the Whiteman Airport Coalition said in a statement.

The plane continued beyond the runway area, passed through a perimeter fence and came to rest in a parking lot on airport property, according to the coalition.

It’s unclear if the plane crashed into any vehicles or anything else in the parking lot.

Firefighters removed the pilot from the plane and took him to the hospital with minor injuries for further evaluation, department officials said.

Five gallons of fuel leaked from the aircraft, but the leak was contained and there is no active fire.

“Thankfully, no one else was injured,” the airport coalition’s statement said. “Most importantly, the incident remained entirely on airport grounds and posed no danger to surrounding neighborhoods or nearby residents.”

The Federal Aviation Administration has been notified and an investigation is pending, according to the fire department. The National Transportation Safety Board has also been notified.

For longtime critics of the airport’s continued operation in the San Fernando Valley, Tuesday’s crash was more evidence that change needs to come to Pacoima.

“This morning’s plane crash at Whiteman Airport reminds us of the definition of insanity — doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result,” said Los Angeles City Councilmember Monica Rodriguez, whose district includes Pacoima, in a statement.

“It’s shameful that the County has taken no meaningful action to protect our community after these repeated accidents which threaten our community’s safety,” the statement said.

The Whiteman Airport has been a cause for concern among community activists and residents in surrounding neighborhoods who have called on the facility to shut down.

The last incident occurred in April when community members helped lift up a single-engine plane and pull the pilot from the wreckage after it crashed upside down and into the parking lot of an auto parts store less than two miles from its departure location, the Whiteman Airport.

A series of accidents prompted the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors to look into closing the airport in 2022.

Following Tuesday morning’s incident, L.A. County Board Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, whose 3rd district includes Pacoima, called on “all operations to cease immediately while a thorough investigation is conducted.”

“I do not have confidence that this federal government shares Los Angeles County’s sense of urgency for safety at Whiteman Airport,” she said in a statement. “We have repeatedly called for answers and corrective actions — we are still waiting.”

In 2022 an single-engine Cessna emergency landed on the Metrolink tracks near San Fernando and Osborne streets; police had to quickly extract the pilot as a Metrolink train barreled toward the wreckage.

That April, a pilot died after a Cessna crashed alongside the 210 Freeway in Sylmar after taking off from Whiteman Airport.

Previously, in November 2020, a Cessna crashed in a residential area near the airport’s runway, killing a Civil Air Patrol pilot.

Earlier this year, federal aviation authorities warned the county that the land purchased with federal funds carried an obligation that included operating the property as an airport unless the FAA formally released it.

The Whiteman Airport Coalition said supervisor Horvath’s statement raises “serious concerns about the future of an important community asset that supports jobs, local businesses, aviation services and emergency response capabilities throughout the northeast San Fernando Valley.”

“Now, after years of opposing modernization and blocking the use of federal grants, Horvath is attempting to shift responsibility to the FAA and NTSB,” the statement said. “The reality is that federal grants exist precisely to improve airport safety, infrastructure, and operations.”

Staff writers Ruben Vives and Clara Harter contributed to this report.