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By Lookout Staff

January 15 -- A small single-engine plane overran the runway at Santa Monica Airport Sunday evening, fueling the fears of neighboring residents that a larger jet could crash into their homes.

The four-seat “Jabiru” kit aircraft went off the west end of the runway on landing, rolled down the west slope and came to rest on the lower west service road, airport officials said. There was no fire.

The pilot from Boulder Colorado who is staying locally with a friend and two adult passengers were not injured in the incident, which took place at around 5:50 p.m., officials said.

“The piston-powered aircraft had a bent right wing and the landing gear and windscreen were heavily damaged,” said Bob Trimborn, the airport manager.

The runway was briefly closed and reopened after an inspection by the Airport Services Officer (ASO), Trimborn said.

The Santa Monica Police and Fire departments “assisted the aircraft occupants and placed fuel absorbent on the roadway for a small fuel spill,” Trimborn said. “They also monitored the aircraft’s removal.”

The FAA and NTSB investigated the incident and will produce a report determining probable cause, Trimborn said. The findings ill take as long as six months to produce, he said.

But it didn’t take long for emails from local residents to start flying.

An hour and a half after the incident Zina Josephs, who heads Friends of Sunset Park, had reported the incident to residents on her email list.

“One person saw a lot of emergency lights further east at the airport, not at the west end, and planes started taking off again while she was talking to me,” Josephs reported in an email at 7:16..

Sunday’s incident comes two months after City and FAA officials over Santa Monica’s efforts to restrict faster, larger jets at the 62-year-old airport.

The City Council’s unanimous vote to ban C and D aircraft with approach speeds faster than 121 knots came after five years of often contentious negotiations with the FAA, which opposed the City’s proposals to shorten the runway and add safety areas at either end that abide by current federal standards.

Even before the inevitable clash, the FAA had threatened litigation to protect "all federal rights, investments and obligations" and ensure no aircraft is denied access to the airport.

City officials and residents who live near the airport worry that soaring jet traffic -- from 4,829 jet operations in 1994 to 18,100 last year -- is putting neighboring homes, as well as pilots, in danger.

Santa Monica officials are scheduled to meet with Congressional representatives to discuss the airport on January 29th, and the City Council is expected to adopt the ordinance on second reading in February.

Los Angeles Councilman Bill Rosendahl & Concerned Residents Against Airport Pollution will host a town hall forum focusing on Santa Monica Airport’s impacts on the surrounding communities Tuesday, January 22 from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. at the Daniel Webster Middle School Auditorium, 11330 W. Graham Place Los Angeles.