By Jorge Casuso
May 28, 2009 – President Barack Obama gave residents around Santa Monica Airport a brief respite from aircraft noise, but it had nothing to do with the ongoing legal battle between Santa Monica and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
Instead, it had to do with a presidential visit to Los Angeles that caused the FAA to bar private pilots from flying within a 12-mile radius of Santa Monica Airport between 1:15 p.m. Wednesday and 7:40 a.m. Thursday.
Although the President, who flew into LAX for a fundraiser in Beverly Hills, didn’t set foot in Santa Monica, the ban effectively shut down the city’s municipal airport for the first time in recent memory due to a dignitary’s visit, airport officials said.
“He flew over us in both directions, but never set foot on the ground,” said Airport Manager Bob Trimborn. A decades-long airport tenant “couldn’t remember the last time the airport shut down in total for a presidential visit,” he said
The municipal airport stayed closed between 1:15 p.m. Wednesday and 8 a.m. Thursday, Trimborn said.
“It was quite an impact,” he said.
Private planes waited in airports outside the no-flight zone and flew in when the airport opened Thursday morning, he said. “We were busy this morning.”
The security measures taken may be unprecedented, even for a President.
Four general aviation airports – Santa Monica, Burbank, Hawthorne and Van Nuys, the largest such airport in the nation – closed down while Obama hosted a $30,000 a couple dinner to raise funds for the Democratic National Committee (DNC).
The shutdown was announced to the media, though no reason was given.
“In previous presidential visits, the media was not advised of his arriving and leaving,” Trimborn said. “This was such sweeping closure, they probably decided it’s better to tell everybody.”
Under the ban, only airlines, law enforcement aircraft and air ambulances were allowed to fly within the restricted zone.
Obama’s visit was not without incident. Shortly before the president arrived at LAX for his departure Thursday, a writer for a small Georgia media outlet was forcibly removed from a press area near Air Force One.
The woman, who reportedly described herself as a "Roman Catholic priestess" who lives in Anaheim, said she wanted to give the president a letter she had written opposing gay marriage.
The woman identified herself as Brenda Lee, a writer for the Georgia Informer, a monthly publication in Macon who said she had White House press credentials.
The president’s visit comes in the midst of a brewing legal battle between the City and FAA over Santa Monica’s ban on larger, faster jets. (“FAA Finds Santa Monica Jet Ban Discriminatory,” May 15, 2009)
It also coincides with a marked decrease in jet traffic due to a faltering economy. (“Jet Traffic Nosedives at Santa Monica Airport,” May 19, 2009).
