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By Ariele Johannson
July 16, 2012 (El Cajon)—San Diego County’s Board of Supervisors voted on June 20 to approve the Program Environmental Impact Report (PEIR) allowing redevelopment of 70 acres at Gillespie Field Airport from light industrial to aviation-only usage.
A total of $5 million will be spent to rehabilitate the long north-south runway. (Earlier plans to extend the shorter east-west runway have been dropped.)
Advocates for Safe Airport Policies (ASAP) is an organization that acts as a voice for neighbors’ concerns about safety, low flights and noise from Gillespie Field. Citing recent complaints of increased air traffic, emissions, noise and low-level flights over homes, area residents have also voiced concerns over future expansion.
The public continues to hope that Gillespie Field will perhaps regain its former status as a good neighbor. Already in place is a Good Neighbor Program for Gillespie Field, run by the County of San Diego, Department of Public Works Airport Division. This serves as a clearing house for questions and concerns of those who use the airport and live near it.
At issue is the “over-concentration of flight schools at Gillespie,” as voiced by Supervisor Dianne Jacob, who continues to urge the staff to pay attention to the genuine concerns of residents.
She requested that the number of flight schools be lowered. Asking for a balance between aviation, manufacturing, and light industry, she charged her staff to come up with a plan controlling the amount of same kinds of businesses to be admitted as leaseholders. Currently, there are nine flight schools at Gillespie, which is more than any other county airport.
This begs the questions: Why are there so many flight schools now and why at Gilllespie? Betty Chafetz from ASAP explained to me that most of the students now are from foreign countries. There is a great demand, especially in developing countries just now developing their aviation industries, airfields, and civil and military capabilities.
Leaded aviation fuel is relatively cheaper here than in Europe and emissions laws more permissive. Living expenses are lower as well. Gillespie is attractive to flight schools because there is no enforced curfew and no noise restrictions. All of that is voluntary. In 1990, the Airport Noise and Capacity Act (ANCA) was enacted, a federal law which took away the right of airports to have those restrictions, unless they were grandfathered in.
The size of flight schools is as important as the volume. In particular, there are two schools at Gillespie that have plans to extend their operations by 2013: Scandinavian Air Academy and American Aviation Academy. AAA has announced affiliations with Korea, the Middle East, and Egypt.
ASAP is pushing for relocation of flight school Touch and Go practice patterns to more sparsely populated areas with relatively level terrain. In addition, they are asking for an enforceable curfew of non-law enforcement and non-medical flights from 7 pm to 7 am.
Finally, residents want a concrete definition of “egregious flying conduct” and an effective real-time method to report infractions. Some training involves repetitive circular patterns. One aircraft in the pattern can result in 6-8 passes over a home in one hour. Residents in Santee and El Cajon have also complained of low flights.
Just this past November at a meeting with airport representatives, flight school staff, and Supervisor Jacob, residents reported low-level flights over their homes, as low as 200 to 300 feet. ECM reported on this meeting. See http://eastcountymagazine.org/node/7909.
Low flight complaints include communities in Fletcher Hills, Lakeside and Santee.
Officials from Gillespie Field and local flight schools denied that there were aircraft flying lower than 1400 ft. in altitude. They used radar tracking data for one single day from Miramar that showed flights at 1400 feet in altitude. They claimed that frequent incidence of aircraft flying below 1400 ft. above sea level would have been reported by the control tower, as well as other pilots in the area.
But this seems contradictory to the facts regarding flight levels at Gillespie. The practice flight pattern is set at approximately 1200 ft above sea level. This is situated over densely populated ridges, some as high as 800 feet. That leaves little space, just 400 feet, between homes and aircraft. Many training aircraft do not even fly that high, neighbors contend.
Flight ceilings are set that low because Gillespie is in restricted airspace due to the military in San Diego. This makes for a dense airspace. Though this may be desirable for practice flying, this is why residents and ASAP feel they should be practicing elsewhere. A traffic pattern review requested by Jacob earlier this year should be completed by the end of July 2012.
According to Sue Strom of the Steering Committee of ASAP, “Gillespie Field is a public airport supported by taxpayer money. It belongs to all of us, and it should be accountable to all of us.”
The public is invited to file any complaints about the airport to the following sources:
FAA Flight Standards District Office (FSDO): 858-502-9882
Noise Complaints: http://www.sdcdpw.org/noise/
Gillespie Field Manager John Otto: 619-956-4805 or John.Otto@sdcounty.ca.gov
Supervisor Dianne Jacob: 619-531-5522 or dianne.jacob@sdcounty.ca.gov
Advocates for Safe Airport Policies (ASAP): www.gillespiefieldguide.com or info@gillespiefieldguide.com
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