Runway

Paul Clinton AIRPORT DISTRICT -- Facing mounting pressure to increase safety on its eastern runway, Burbank Airport officials have unveiled a $25-million plan that includes relocation of two parking lots, a soft concrete "arrestor bed" and several land purchases. The Federal Aviation Administration insisted the airport increase safety following the March crash of a Southwest Airlines jet that skidded off the runway and on to Hollywood Way. On Monday, the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority's nine-member commission unanimously approved the enhancements.

BOB HOPE AIRPORT ? The Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority unanimously approved a runway rehabilitation project on Monday, awarding a $10.3-million contract to Sully Miller Contracting Co. to break ground on the project this summer. The average life of a runway is about 10 years, airport spokesman Victor Gill said. It's been about that long since Bob Hope's were repaved, airport authority Commissioner Charlie Lombardo said. "It's been about 10 years since we last repaved," Lombardo said.

BURBANK ? Passengers and crew aboard the 9:30 a.m. Southwest flight came upon an unusual sight Tuesday as they landed at Bob Hope Airport: dozens of people in bright yellow T-shirts walking down the middle of Runway 826. They were searching for ?foreign object debris,? otherwise known as trash ? a potentially costly pest when sucked into jet engines. A plastic bag, screw, loose pebble or stick can cause hundreds of thousands of dollars? worth of damage to aircraft engines or tires.

Laura Sturza AIRPORT DISTRICT -- After a Southwest Airlines jet overshot the runway and skidded to a stop on Hollywood Way in March 2000, the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport needed a plan to prevent future crashes. The Airport Authority hired Excel Paving Company to resurface 230 feet of runway with "engineered material arresting system" (E-Mass), a material for preventing runaway jets. E-Mass is a fairly new technology that provides another level of safety, Airport Authority spokesman Victor Gill said.

Karen S. Kim AIRPORT DISTRICT -- A program geared at improving runway safety at Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport has received a grant of nearly $2 million from the Federal Aviation Administration, officials announced Friday. The money will be used to construct a special safety surface, an Engineered Material Arresting System, at the end of the airport's 6,032-foot-long, east-west Runway 8. "We always feel good about $2 million," Airport Authority Spokesman Victor Gill said.

Ben Godar The response was real, but the crash at the Burbank- Glendale-Pasadena Airport was just a simulation. More than a dozen agencies participated in a full-scale emergency drill Wednesday morning. The exercise is required by the Federal Aviation Administration at least once every three years. In the morning scenario, a Boeing 737 had its landing gear collapse and veered off the runway. A fire in the cockpit and a fuel spill added suspense to the simulation.

AIRPORT DISTRICT — The Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority unanimously approved plans Tuesday for a $14.8-million extension of Taxiway D. By extending the main artery of Bob Hope Airport, officials say they are addressing one of the airport’s main safety concerns. “This project is very significant for us and very significant for the traveling public,” airport authority Executive Director Dios Marrero said. The project will extend Taxiway D from the southern edge of Runway 15-33 — the main takeoff runway — to the Eastern end of Runway 8-26, the airport’s main landing path.

Generally speaking, standoffs between opposing factions can be quite exciting to witness. Watching the tension mount on the sweat-stained faces of enemies staring one another down. Waiting for the initial twitch that will set into motion the potentially deadly action. Wondering who will be the first to fall. But the standoff between Burbank and officials of the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport has stretched way beyond the point of drama, into disappointment and, well, disgust.

Federal safety officials on Friday opened an investigation into the near-collision of a commercial jetliner and a small private plane at the intersection of two runways at Bob Hope Airport. The National Transportation Safety Board said in an advisory that a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-700 carrying 124 passengers and crew from Oakland came within 200 feet of a Cessna 172 while landing on Runway 8 of the airport. The private plane at about 11 a.m. Monday was executing a ?touch and go,?

Repair crews at Bob Hope Airport in Burbank on Friday restored runway lights on a runway after a power failure caused several incoming and outbound flights to be canceled. The north-south runway "edge lights" were switched back on at about 5:30 a.m., an operations manager at the airport told the L.A. Times . The cause of the Thursday night outage was not immediately known,  she said. Officials predicted Thursday night that normal flight operations would resume at daybreak whether or not the outage had been repaired.

A spokesman for Bob Hope Airport said officials are investigating what caused runway lights to lose power late Wednesday night. Several incoming and outbound flights had to be canceled Thursday night when crews were unable to restore power in time. The north-south runway “edge lights” were switched back on at about 5:30 a.m. Friday. Although the north-south runway is mainly used for departures, incoming flights were also affected, officials said. Airlines that use Bob Hope Airport include Southwest, United, Jet Blue and Alaska.

Federal safety officials on Friday opened an investigation into the near-collision of a commercial jetliner and a small private plane at the intersection of two runways at Bob Hope Airport. The National Transportation Safety Board said in an advisory that a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-700 carrying 124 passengers and crew from Oakland came within 200 feet of a Cessna 172 while landing on Runway 8 of the airport. The private plane at about 11 a.m. Monday was executing a ?touch and go,?

Federal safety officials on Friday opened an investigation into the near-collision of a commercial jetliner and a small private plane at the intersection of two runways at Bob Hope Airport. The National Transportation Safety Board said in an advisory that a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-700 carrying 124 passengers and crew from Oakland came within 200 feet of the Cessna 172 while landing on Runway 8 of the airport. The private plane at about 11 a.m. Monday was executing a “touch and go,” a practice maneuver in which an aircraft lands briefly on the runway before accelerating and becoming airborne again.

About 75 community members and war veterans fanned out across Bob Hope Airport, searching for loose debris that pose a safety threat to aircraft. Dressed in black T-shirts, volunteers and airport staff walked one mile shoulder-to-shoulder in horizontal lines. Airport officials invited a dozen war veterans from the three Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority member cities to lead walkers down the runway. Bob Hope’s Federal Security Director Brian Cahill, who recently returned from Baghdad in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, along with Bob Gilliland, who flew the first test flight of Lockheed’s SR-71 Blackbird Dec. 22, 1964, and served in the U.S. Air Force in the Korean War, led the group.

Madeline Muldoon has realized a longtime dream — to attend the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York — and along with meeting the country’s top fashion designers, she got a lesson in U.S. history. The 17-year-old Burbank resident was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis at 18 months old. A life-threatening condition, the illness qualified her to receive a special gift from the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Madeline hopes to someday work in the wardrobe department of a television show.

BURBANK — Bob Hope Airport got a little “greener” with the unveiling of what is being called the highest-rated sustainable aviation facility in the world. A large crowd, including Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, was invited to Bob Hope Airport for the inauguration Tuesday morning of Hangar 25. “While I may be outside of L.A.’s borders today, today I come as an environmental advocate,” Villaraigosa said. “We know that a clean, healthy environment should know no boundaries.

AIRPORT DISTRICT — The Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority unanimously approved plans Tuesday for a $14.8-million extension of Taxiway D. By extending the main artery of Bob Hope Airport, officials say they are addressing one of the airport’s main safety concerns. “This project is very significant for us and very significant for the traveling public,” airport authority Executive Director Dios Marrero said. The project will extend Taxiway D from the southern edge of Runway 15-33 — the main takeoff runway — to the Eastern end of Runway 8-26, the airport’s main landing path.