Santa Monica Airport

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Santa Monica Airport

IATA: SMO - ICAO: KSMO
Summary
Airport type		Public
Operator		City of Santa Monica
Serves		Santa Monica, California
Elevation AMSL		175 ft (53 m)
Coordinates		34°00′57″N, 118°27′04″W
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
Direction	ft	m	Surface
3/21	4,987	1,520	Paved

Santa Monica Airport (IATA: SMO, ICAO: KSMO) is a general aviation airport located in Santa Monica, California, United States. The airport is located approximately six statute miles north of LAX and one mile east of the Santa Monica Bay (Pacific Ocean). Van Nuys Airport, the busiest general aviation airport in the world is 12 miles to the north. The airport has a control tower and, on average, handles 400-500 operations a day.

Originally called Clover Field, the airport was the home of the Douglas Aircraft company. The first circumnavigation of the world by air took off from and returned to Clover Field in 1924.

Three restaurants are on the airport property; The Hump and Typhoon both have runway views and Spitfire Grill is across an airport street with no view of the runway. The Museum Of Flying at the airport houses a collection of historic aircraft. It is currently closed while a new facility is built on the North side of the airport and is expected to re-open in late 2007 or early 2008.

1 Landing fees
2 Noise
3 Major accidents
4 External links

[edit] Landing fees

On August 1, 2005, the Santa Monica City Council implemented a revised landing fee program (Resolution No. 9855) for all transient aircraft (those not based at the Santa Monica Airport) based on a uniform rate of $2.07 per 1000 pounds of Maximum Certificated Gross Landing Weight.

For small aircraft such as a Cessna 172, the cost is roughly $4–6. For a mid-size business jet such as a Lear 45, the price is roughly $40 and for larger aircraft such as a Gulfstream IV, approximately $120.

Since the Santa Monica Airport receives no federal, state or local funding to operate, the landing fees fill the gap between other Airport revenue and the cost of operations. SMO Landing Fee Program

[edit] Noise

Facing east at the city and landing aircraft.

In an effort to peacefully coexist with the residents that live in the upscale western Los Angeles County the city of Santa Monica has strict noise ordinances[1] that prohibit takeoffs between the hours of 11pm and 7am on weekdays and between 11pm and 8am on weekends as well as other procedures to minimize the noise impact on nearby residents.

Less than one mile west of Santa Monica Airport over the dense West Los Angeles, California area.

[edit] Major accidents

In 1994, the pilot of a single-engine Piper Saratoga died when a fuel system misconfiguration led to an in-flight engine shutdown. The aircraft stalled in a subsequent 180 degree turn for a forced emergency landing and impacted the ground, which resulted in a post-crash fire. [2]
In 2001, an inexperienced pilot rented a Cessna 172 from Justice Aviation at the airport and subsequently lost control of the aircraft over the Pacific Ocean upon encountering dark, instrument meteorological conditions. Three were killed. [3]
Later that year, the pilot of a twin-engine Cessna failed to remove the device that locks the control system for parking (to prevent wind damage) and two were killed when the aircraft overran the runway after an unsuccessful aborted takeoff. [4].
Game-show host Peter Tomarken and his wife Kathleen died when his Beechcraft Bonanza crashed during climb-out from the airport on the morning of March 13, 2006. The Federal Aviation Administration reported that the aircraft had engine trouble and attempted to turn back [5] before crashing into Santa Monica Bay. FlightAware shows the flight track information and flight map[6].