AIRPORT CRASHES DISCUSSED; WHITEMAN PILOTS OFFER TO WORK ON IMPROVING SAFETY, EDUCATION.

Byline: Sharline Chiang Daily News Staff Writer

A community forum, meant to allow residents to air concerns about crashes at the Whiteman Airpark, was attended Wednesday night mostly by pilots and airport administrators who offered to work with the public to improve safety and education.

Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alarcon called the meeting at David Gonzalez Park because of five crashes over the past two years involving aircraft that were based at Whiteman or arriving or departing there.

``I think we need to do everything we can to enforce safety at Whiteman Airport,'' Alarcon said. ``If we can make it safer and we don't, we are fools.''

There has been no study on the crashes, but some of the pilots and airport managers said several factors could be at play.

``The pilots may have been free-lance pilots who weren't familiar with the airport,'' said Frank Kratzer, a pilot who owns a flight school and charter company based at Whiteman since 1961. ``The airport needs help. The runway's too short.''

Kevin L. Clover, the regional safety program manager for the Federal Aviation Administration, suggested that training be increased and that a new safety program governing plane maintenance, pilot and flight safety be adopted at Whiteman.

He shot down talk that too many pilots might be in training at the airport.

``It concerns me to hear the talk about restricting training,'' Clover said. ``That's your best friend, and that's what will make it safer around here.''

Pacoima elementary teacher Sam Chaidez said he would like to see the airpark work with the community to educate the public on aviation safety. ``When there are crashes, it's the talk of the day for my students,'' he said. ``I'd like to go back and tell them what the FAA and Whiteman Airport are doing to make the airport safer.''

In September, in a flight training session gone awry, a single-engine plane crashed into two homes on Hoyt Street before bursting into a ball of flame. A student pilot and a student passenger died. The instructor escaped, but was badly burned.

Several other crashes have occurred at Whiteman Airpark in recent years:

September 1997 - A small training aircraft crashed into two homes on Hoyt Street. Two flight students died. The instructor, badly burned, survived.

March 1997 - A single-engine plane crashed into a Pacoima back yard. Two occupants, a passenger and a pilot, were killed.

May 1996 - One plane crashed on the Hansen Dam Golf Course. Occupants survived with slight injuries.

July 1995 - A plane hit a light pole and a telephone pole before crashing into a vacant bakery. The two men in the plane were killed.

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