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In This Issue...
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Airport Advocates Recognize Angels, Value Aviation
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Driving Impaired: The Costs & Consequences
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Airport Advocates Recognize Angels, Value Aviation
By Linda Fridy
The Watsonville Regional Airport's promotion committee reminded area pilots on Nov. 7 what the airport offers to the community, but the hosts were not merely preaching to the choir. In addition to members of local flying organizations, four members of the Watsonville city council were on hand to help recognize Angel Flight efforts and stayed to hear about the need to support safe general aviation.
The city and local pilots have been tangled in a lawsuit over development plans near the airport in the Buena Vista area. The city has appealed a court decision – after the pilot's association challenged one of the council's rulings — that the city had not followed proper land use guidelines by proposing to build homes under the airport's traffic pattern. That history made city officials' attendance at the annual dinner a sign of good will.
Participants were united in their praise for Angel Flight, a non-profit that links volunteer pilots with patients who need air transportation. Flights from Watsonville have taken cancer patients to Los Angeles for experimental treatments and flown a burn victim to a special summer camp.
Both the Pajaro Valley Health Trust and the city of Watsonville honored local pilots, who donate their time, aircraft and fuel costs.
"For that, you are angels," said Mayor Antonio Rivas.
Event chair Don Chavet noted the role that Watsonville Airport has played in recent county wildfires, serving as the staging ground for Cal Fire air support. The Watsonville Pilots Association also marked the 20th anniversary of the Loma Prieta earthquake by honoring the pilots who flew in supplies when many county roads were inaccessible.
"A local airport is indispensible in emergencies," said Chavet.
Airport Income
A general aviation airport such as Watsonville also brings money into the community, noted Ed Rosiak, president of the California Pilots Association.
"It is not a playground for rich pilots," he said, noting that small general aviation planes cost about the same as an SUV. "Airports are part of the transportation infrastructure."
The Watsonville Airport hosts 18 onsite businesses and has 40 business users. It supports 1,650 jobs and brings in $35 million in direct income and $627 million indirectly, he reported.
"General aviation pays its own way," he said, through fuel taxes, personal property taxes on the planes and sales tax.
He reviewed a trend of encroachment on and closing of many of California's general aviation airports, those like Watsonville that do not have commercial or military flights.
He used an illustration showing where accidents historically occur in a flight pattern like Watsonville's to emphasize the importance of sound airport land use planning.
"This is not to scare anybody. This is data," he said.
Salinas city council member and candidate for the State Assembly Janet Barnes told the audience at the event that she is an airport supporter, noting that she worked to help Hartnell College and the Salinas Airport reach a compromise about adjacent land use.
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