Van Nuys Airport: Difference between revisions

{{shortShort description|Airport in Van Nuys, Los Angeles, California, USAUnited States}}

| caption2 = Aerial view of Van Nuys Airport in 2021.

| city-served = [[Greater Los Angeles]]

| location = [[Van Nuys, California|Van Nuys]], [[California]], [[United States|U.S.]]

| stat1-data = 232,000<ref name="Aircraft Operations">{{Cite web |title=History of Aircraft Operations |url=https://www.iflyvny.com/news-and-facts/statistics/history-of-aircraft-operations |access-date=2021-10-15 |website=www.iflyvny.com |archive-date=2021-10-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211015212636/https://www.iflyvny.com/news-and-facts/statistics/history-of-aircraft-operations |url-status=dead }}</ref>

| stat2-data = {{US$|2 billion|link=yes}}<ref name="VNY Economic Impact Report">{{Cite report |url=https://www.iflyvny.com/-/media/iflyvny/vny-news-and-facts/files/vny-eia-final.ashx |title=Van Nuys Airport Economic Impact Study |lastlast1=Cooper |firstfirst1=Dr. Christine |last2=Mitra |first2=Dr. Somjita |date=November 2016 |publisher=[[Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation]] Institute for Applied Economics }}</ref>

The airport is also home to LAWA's [[FlyAway Bus(bus)|FlyAway]] terminal, where passengers bound for LAX can park and board buses that run nonstop between Van Nuys and LAX.

Van Nuys Airport is also known for implementing multiple noise abatement policies and strategies which includes awarding jet operators with the [https://www.globalair.com/Articles/Van-Nuys-Airport-awards-jet-operators-for-reduced-noise?Id=4764&utm_source=WikiePedia&utm_medium=Van+Nuys+Airport+page&utm_campaign=Link+Building Friendly Flyer Award for reduced noise.]

Van Nuys Airport opened on December 17, 1928, the 25th anniversary of the [[Wright Flyer|Wright Brothers’Brothers' first flight]], as Metropolitan Airport. The airfield was run by a small group of citizens who established a corporation. The airport was spread out on 80 acres, surrounded by trees and farmland. The airport was mostly used for [[general aviation]], but also became popular with Hollywood stars of the era, and notably was the filming location of the iconic airport scene in the 1942 film [[Casablanca (film)|Casablanca]].<ref name="History Pt. 1">{{Cite web |title=VNY Airport History, Part 1 |url=https://www.iflyvny.com/news-and-facts/history |url-status=live |access-date=2021-10-15 |website=www.iflyvny.com |archive-date=2020-09-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200921024039/https://www.iflyvny.com/news-and-facts/history |url-status=dead }}</ref> Also notable were the scenes of the reckless flight (and other scenes) of [[Laurel and Hardy]] in the 1939 film [[The Flying Deuces]].

In 1942, after the United States entered [[World War II]], the government purchased Metropolitan Airport and converted it into the Van Nuys Army Airfield. The Army also purchased an additional 163 acres of land to expand the runways and airfield. During the war, the airfield was used by the [[4th Air Force]], which stationed the [[428th Fighter Squadron]] with [[Lockheed P-38 Lightning]] aircraft in 1943. In 1944, the 441st Army Air Forces Base Unit was added to train additional pilots for the P-38. Elsewhere on the airfield, the U.S. Navy and [[Lockheed Corporation]] created an aircraft modification facility known as the Navy Lockheed Plant, just one of several aerospaceaircraft companies that would become established in the area.<ref name="History Pt. 1" />

In the 1950s, the California Air National Guard based [[North American F-86 Sabre]] jets at the airport and built new permanent facilities. In 1957, the airport's name would change one last time to Van Nuys Airport. In 1959, the [[Sherman Way]] underpass was finished, allowing the main runway (16R/34L) to be extended to its current length of {{Convert|8001|ft}}. By the end of the decade, Van Nuys was ranked as the 25th busiest airport in the nation in terms of operations, despite having no commercial air service.<ref name="History Pt. 1" />

In 1975, the Los Angeles Department of Airports (nowtoday [[Los Angeles World Airports]]) built the [[FlyAway (bus)|FlyAway]] bus terminal just east of the Van Nuys Airport. The terminal served as a remote parking lot for sister airport, LAX. Passengers would park at Van Nuys and board a bus for a {{Convert|20|mi|adj=on}} trip to LAX, helping to alleviate freeway and LAX parking congestion.<ref name="History Pt. 2">{{Cite web |title=VNY Airport History, Part 2 |url=https://www.iflyvny.com/news-and-facts/history2 |url-status=live |access-date=2021-10-15 |website=www.iflyvny.com}}</ref>

The California Air National Guard moved out of Van Nuys in 1990, with the [[146th Airlift Wing]] shifting to [[Naval Air Station Point Mugu]] (now [[Naval Base Ventura County]]) in [[Oxnard, California|Oxnard]]. In 1994, the now-vacated National Guard buildings became a critical operating site for the [[American Red Cross]] helped thehelping victims of the devastating [[1994 Northridge earthquake|Northridge earthquake]]. In the early 2000s, the former Air National Guard basefacility was converted into air operations and helicopter maintenance facilities for the Los Angeles Fire Department.<ref name="History Pt. 2" />

Today,In the 2020s Van Nuys remains one of the world's busiest general aviation airports, with 232,000 aircraft operations in 2020.<ref name="Aircraft Operations" /> A 2015 study found that the airport generates {{US$|2 billion|link=yes}} of economic impact and has created 10,480 jobs<ref name="VNY Economic Impact Report" />

* On November 25, 2008, a [[Cessna 310]] carrying two people experienced [[landing gear]] problems. After burning off fuel, it was able to land on the runway without incident, although its front gear collapsed upon landing.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/LIVE-VIDEO-Fire-Crews-Prepare-for-Emergency-Landing-at-Van-Nuys-Airport.html |title=Plane Slides to Stop on Runway |date=25 November 2008 |publisher=NBC Los Angeles |access-date=2008-11-25}}</ref>

* On January 9, 2015, a [[Lancair]] kit aircraft crashed after takeoff just south of the airport at the intersection of Vanowen Street and Hayvenhurst Avenue. The pilot, an experienced flight instructor and [[Jet Propulsion Laboratory]] robotics engineer, was killed.<ref>{{cite news

* Parts of the climactic scene of the film ''[[Casablanca (film)|Casablanca]]'' (1942) were filmed at Van Nuys Airport, at the time known as Metropolitan Airport.<ref>{{cite news|url=httphttps://articleswww.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-01-19/local/-me-1361_1_burbank1361-airportstory.html|title='Casablanca' Filmed Elsewhere : At Burbank Airport, a Myth Is Just a Myth|first=T. W.|last=McGarry|work=Los Angeles Times|date=January 19, 1986|access-date=January 8, 2019}}</ref>

* The airport was used for landing the 747 andin wasthe film ''[[Executive Decision]]'' (1996), referred to as [[Frederick Municipal Airport (Maryland)|Frederick Field]] in the film ''[[Executive Decision]]'' (1996).

*The dramatic ending of the ''[[film noir]]'' ''[[Armored Car Robbery]]'' (1950) takes place at what was then Los Angeles Metropolitan Airport. Antagonist [[William Talman (actor)|William Talman]] and his burlesque queen girlfriend [[Adele Jergens]] are attempting to escape by chartered airplane,. and are corneredCornered by Detective [[Charles McGraw]]., Talman runs, and is killed on the runway by a landing airplane.

*A major part of the science fiction motion picture ''[[Silent Running]]'' (1972) was filmed at the Van Nuys Airport in March 1971. The Domes from the spacecraft that contained the last surviving forests were filmed there. The forest environments were originally intended to be filmed in the [[Mitchell Park Domes]] in [[Milwaukee]], [[Wisconsin]], but the production budget forced the sequences to be shot in a newly completed aircraft hangar in Van Nuys.

*[[Blink-182]]'s music video for "[[All the Small Things|All The Small Things]]"