The push to close Whiteman Airport in Pacoima isn't actually about public safety. It's about real estate.
Every time a minor incident occurs near the runway, local politicians call press conferences. Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath recently authorized a $1.9 million taxpayer-funded study to look into shutting the 184-acre general aviation airport down. Activist groups claim they want to replace the concrete with parks, affordable housing, or a biotech hub. It sounds great during a city council meeting, but it ignores a massive legal and financial reality.
The County can't just padlock the gates. Whiteman Airport has federal obligations tied to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grants that require it to operate as an airport forever. The FAA explicitly stated that they have no plans to release the county from these obligations. So while politicians spend millions of your tax dollars studying a closure that won't happen, the airport infrastructure sits underfunded.
You don't need to be a pilot to care about this. If Whiteman closes, the entire San Fernando Valley loses a vital piece of disaster infrastructure, a youth development engine, and a buffer against massive commercial jet noise.
The Invisible Shield Over Pacoima Airspace
One of the biggest misconceptions about Whiteman is that removing it makes the sky quieter. The opposite is true.
Whiteman sits under a highly regulated three-mile safety zone. This airspace buffer currently forces large, noisy commercial jets flying into nearby Hollywood Burbank Airport to alter their flight paths. If Whiteman disappears, that protective buffer goes with it. Commercial jets will fly directly over Pacoima and the surrounding neighborhoods at lower altitudes. You aren't trading airplanes for quiet parks; you're trading small single-engine props for commercial Boeing 737s cutting through the local sky.
Then there's the emergency response issue. Southern California deals with intense fire seasons. During major wildfires, like the Hurst Fire, Whiteman serves as a critical staging ground for water-dropping helicopters and emergency services.
If you eliminate Whiteman, where do those emergency operators go? Burbank is choked with commercial traffic. Van Nuys is dominated by corporate business jets. Pushing disaster response teams out to Lancaster or the San Gabriel Valley adds precious minutes to response times when a wildfire jumps a ridge line in the local mountains.
The $1.9 Million Surplus the County Hid
Politicians love to claim the airport is a financial drain on the community. Let's look at the actual numbers.
County financial records show that Whiteman Airport generated a $1.9 million operating surplus in the 2023-2024 fiscal year. It runs on an enterprise fund, meaning it pays for itself through hangar rentals, fuel sales, and landing fees. It doesn't take a dime from the county’s general tax fund.
But look at where that money went. Out of that $1.9 million surplus, the county spent a measly $16,650 on actual maintenance.
Instead of fixing the runway or funding projects to move power lines underground along the approach path, the county is hoarding the revenue or diverting focus toward closure studies. The safety issues that activists complain about are being caused by the county's deliberate refusal to reinvest the airport's own profits back into its infrastructure.
Aviation commissioners have identified roughly $18 million in necessary safety upgrades over the next six years. The airport generates the revenue to help cover this, but local leaders have frozen federal matching funds because they want to force a transition that the FAA won't allow.
The Career Pipeline Nobody Talks About
We hear a lot about giving local kids career opportunities, yet the county is actively trying to kill the best vocational pipeline in the area.
Whiteman is home to programs like the Civil Air Patrol Senior Squadron 35 and the EAA Chapter 40 Young Eagles program, which has given more than 12,000 local kids a free airplane ride since 1992. It's also the operational base for Glendale Community College’s aviation program.
The aviation industry is facing a massive pilot and mechanic shortage. Training to be a commercial pilot at a major university costs upwards of $100,000. Local airports like Whiteman allow working-class kids from the San Fernando Valley to log flight hours, learn aircraft maintenance, and access high-paying jobs without taking on crushing debt.
When you look at the redevelopment plans pushed by economic consultants, they talk about building retail spaces or light industrial complexes. Retail jobs pay minimum wage. Aviation mechanics make $40 to $60 an hour. Replacing an active aviation pipeline with another strip mall or warehouse block doesn't lift a community up; it locks them into low-wage service jobs.
Stop Studying and Start Investing
The path forward isn't spending more tax dollars on speculative real estate studies. The county needs to accept reality: the FAA isn't shutting Whiteman down.
If Supervisor Horvath and the Board of Supervisors actually care about the safety of Pacoima residents, they need to release the frozen infrastructure funds. The priority should be burying the power lines near the runway approach and modernizing the runway layout. Use the $1.9 million annual surplus for its intended purpose: keeping the facility pristine and safe.
If you want to support the community, attend the next Los Angeles County Aviation Commission meeting or write to the Board of Supervisors. Tell them to stop treating Whiteman Airport like a vacant real estate lot and start treating it like the critical public asset it is.
