Reid-Hillview Users, please read

I'm sure more than one person on this forum is based at or has used Reid-Hillview Airport in San Jose (RHV). In case you aren't aware, RHV is once again threatened with closure by the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors. An RV-6 owner friend of mine mentioned that the VAF forum members might want to know what the story is. The executive summary is that the county is facing a massive budget shortfall, and some local officials believe that the answer is to sell off county assets, including RHV.

Even if you aren't based at RHV, consider the impact this closure would have. If the county manages to void its agreements with the FAA that require it to keep the airport open in exchange for federal grants, it would set a terrible precedent that would make it easier to close other airports around the country. (The county counsel has stated in the past that she believes this can be done.)

My reason for posting about this now is that we need your help. Local organizations like CRAMP (www.cramp.org) and RHVAA are joining the fight (with help from AOPA and others). Specifically, we need to support candidates for Supervisor who believe that the airport is an irreplaceable asset.

We're supporting Dave Cortese (www.cortese4supervisor.com) by hosting a BBQ fundraiser for Dave Cortese on May 17th, starting at 5pm, at the Amelia Reid Aviation Hangar at RHV. We are suggesting a minimum contribution of $100, which when you think about it buys only 20 gallons of 100LL for your airplane in most of CA.

If you can't make it to the BBQ but donate to the candidate anyway, please mention that you are a pilot and that you support the candidate's efforts to sustain Reid-Hillview. Alternately, we welcome donations to the CRAMP-PAC (see http://cramp.org/cramp-pac/).

Please feel free to PM me if you want additional information. Or if you feel this sort of post is objectionable. Thank you.

Michael Coyle
pilot, Mooney M20C

Sad. RHV is a great facility with some really interesting history, i.e., Amelia Reid. I can't attend your fundraiser, but will donate to CRAMP.

TODR

Bump and thanks! RHV is my home airport

Not meaning to discourage your but...

I trained out of RHV - got my PPL there before I moved away.

But having lived there, I have to consider what the non-aviation oriented politicians would think: keep a noisey airport that my constituants constantly complain about and that does not provide any important travel benefits to anyone, or, tear it down and put in a bigger shopping mall or a golf course or a development like Rivermark in its place. Especially when you have SJC just ten miles away. I have a hard time believing you will convince the politicians to keep it. And besides, they will say that you have South County or Palo Alto or Hayward or Livermore to go fly at.

I would hate to see it go away, but it looks like you will have a tough fight on your hands.

I feel the pain, but there is something that all of us can do, what? put mufflers on!!! Get the noise out before we loose out everywhere. I talk to the general public all the time, they think it's great that I fly, then they get to the noise aircraft put out, and another one, people are sick of planes flying low to the ground over their house and the noise that comes with it. So I see two things here that we all can do, get the noise out and start flying the rules, congested areas 1000agl, non congested areas 500 agl. And the big one at my airport, fly the traffic pattern altitude, most are 800agl, guys in byplanes at my field like to be 300agl, why so people see their planes, of course.

Nomex Maximus said:

And besides, they will say that you have South County or Palo Alto or Hayward or Livermore to go fly at.

I would hate to see it go away, but it looks like you will have a tough fight on your hands.

Click to expand...

Thank you, all of you, for weighing in. The fight this time isn't about safety or noise; it's about money. We've already won in the past on safety and noise; the taxpayers paid for a number of studies that show that we aren't significantly noisier than nearby I-680 and that an airport is the safest use of the land (safer than a park, a shopping center, light industrial, or housing).

As for other local airports, South County is in the red by a fair margin, so if Reid closes, South County won't stay open for long. Palo Alto, San Jose, and Hayward are effectively full, and cannot absorb even half of RHV's plane between all three. Livermore, Watsonville, and Hollister have more room, but are quite far away. I think a number of tenants will simply sell their planes and stop flying if the bar is raised that high.

Federal/AIP funding

"The county counsel has stated in the past that she believes this can be done."

The county counsel is out of her mind. The ONLY way the FAA is going to relinquish authority over that airport is if the sponsor pays back all the money or forgives the agreement, the latter highly unlikely.

I run an AIP airport, (KAOC), and I can tell you the county counsel is talking out of her butt.

Furthermore, if the sponsor does not abide by it's agreement, the FAA can assume control of the airport, install management and then BILL THE SPONSOR.