Nobody Noticed This Hazard To Flight
by ANN Associate Editor James Aronovsky
A 12 story building -- standing just one block out of the
official airport boundary -- is causing some San Diego, CA
pilots major concern as the developer, Sunroad Enterprises,
finishes construction on the 180 foot structure.
The problem seems to neither the city, the state, or the
federal government ever talked to one other about the construction
until they noticed a giant building very close to the field.
The San Diego Union-Tribune says the FAA has warned the building
is a hazard and will have a "substantial adverse effect on the safe
(operation)” of the airport, but the feds are powerless to
stop construction, because the structure stands just outside the
official area. Since the FAA can't do anything about it, the
California Department of Transportation is considering a court
order to halt construction -- and the city of San Diego has just
ordered the builder to stop work on anything above the tenth
floor.
Montgomery Field is a city-owned general aviation airport that
lies about eight miles north of downtown San Diego. MYF is the
second busiest general aviation field in the county with a high
percentage of business, air-ambulance, and small-cargo flights as
well as a substantial amount of flight training.
While the high building shouldn't be a major factor for VFR
operations, it would stand less than 400 feet away from a plane
executing a correct circling approach under instrument
conditions.
As a pilot based at this very field, I have watched this tower
begin to grow and have noticed that it is a fine landmark to spot
just where I should be on my downwind leg for Runway 28 Right. It
is also very close to the path I fly when
I practice IFR circling approaches to Runway 23
while earning my instrument ticket. My safety pilot can tell if I'm
on track by gauging how close I come to this unfinished structure.
If I were to circle too wide, the disastrous results could be
identical to what happened to Cory Lidle in New York.
The building towers less than one mile northwest of the
departure end of 28 and as you can see from photographs, even VFR
pilots performing touch and gos now have to pay
closer attention as they climb to pattern altitude because it
lies almost exactly at the junction of the downwind to base
leg.
Barbara Lichman, an attorney for the developer, says the company
has done nothing wrong and the city granted all the permits. She
told the Union-Tribune "I want to make it clear we didn't
pull the wool over anybody's eyes,” Lichman said. “We
met every land-use standard of the city's permitting
process.”
Well, not exactly. When the FAA first started to complain,
Sunroad agreed to reduce the building's height to 160 feet and the
FAA withdrew its objections. Two months later, it submitted another
plan and this time admitted their building was actually going to be
180 feet tall. And by the way, the framing was already up.
Kelly Broughton, deputy director of the San Diego Development
Services Department, said because the building was just outside the
airport's jurisdiction, the city wasn't legally required to
consider the effect of such a large hazard. He told the
Union-Tribune, “Just because there is a tall building near an
airport doesn't make it a safety issue.”
Still, the city's Department of Land Use and Economic
Development has told the developer not to perform any more work
above the tenth story.
Tom Story, a Sunroad executive who is evidently a proponent of
the better-to ask-forgiveness-than-permission school of action,
told the U-T “It's not a reality to take two stories
off.”
The California Department of Transportation is planning to get a
court order to stop construction. The agency sent a warning in
September: “If an aircraft accident occurs at the site
because of this violation, you are assuming all liability for the
accident.” The letter continues, “Until you receive a
permit from the Department, it is unlawful for you to proceed with
construction.”
Sunroad's lawyer claims the state has no jurisdiction in the
matter.
Ironically, the structure is being raised on the former site of
General Dynamics Convair Division... where Intercontinental
Ballistic Atlas missiles were built decades ago.
ANN's Daily Aero-Linx (04.15.24)
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