Santa Monica to close

[flyingdrill]

A sad day for GA. The FAA have agreed to let the city of Santa Monica close the airport. OK, it's not happening till the end of 2028, but they have permission to shorten the runway to 3500'! That will spoil things for a lot of folk.....

I know AOPA, etc. are going to fight this, but it is probably a lost cause. So, fellow PE users, enjoy it for the next few years.

I have fond memories of a RW sightseeing flight I flew many years ago, from SMO and doing a Bravo transition over LAX to the Queen Mary and return. I know there are several PilotEdge customers who fly RW in the area. So, you also have several years to get pleasure (or business use) from SMO.

[Kevin_atc]

From NBAA:

Despite ongoing litigation by NBAA and other parties, the city of Santa Monica is moving forward with a runway shortening project at Santa Monica Municipal Airport (SMO), starting Monday, Oct. 9. SMO’s single runway will be reduced from 4,973 feet in length to 3,500 feet, with project completion expected by the end of this year. The airport will be closed to all aircraft nightly from 9 p.m. to 7 a.m., Monday through Friday, during this period.

https://www.nbaa.org/ops/airports/smo/s ... ober-9.php

Very sad! We knew this was coming, but now there’s an actual start date. Maybe PE can host a LAX/SMO event prior to Oct 9th to allow small jets one more chance to use SMO.

[Kevin_atc]

After a brief delay (all parties tried to appeal) the city has once again thrown all appeals out and has begun phase 1 of the runway shortening. The airport is now closed Tues-Sat (or Mon-Fri local time) evenings as they prepare for the runway shortage. Apparently, according to the article, there isn't a specific day in which the airport will begin actually shortening the runway (phase 1 is the preparation...whatever that means) but once phase 2 begins, the airport will be fully closed for 10 straight days and will reopen as a 3500ft single runway airport until it fully closes for good in about a decade.

Honestly, I'm a bit surprised that nobody has Meigs Field'd the $#!t out of it yet since that (unfortunately) worked quite well in Chicago all those years ago.

https://www.flyingmag.com/santa-monicas ... to-proceed

[rtataryn]

Sad indeed.