Hollywood airport favored by celebrities could be site of next plane disaster: officials
Air transportation safety officials are sounding alarms about potential safety issues at Hollywood Burbank Airport (BUR) in the Los Angeles area.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) held a meeting last week related to the collision in January 2025 of an American Airlines flight and a Black Hawk helicopter in the Potomac River.
At the hearing, NTSB board chair Jennifer Homendy spoke about airspaces of concern, specifically mentioning the Hollywood airport.
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"Burbank is one [airport] where commercial airlines have called me to say the next midair [collision] is going to be at Burbank, and nobody at the FAA is paying attention to us," said Homendy, according to Fox 11 and other sources.
She added, "The FAA has to ensure safety. That is their job."
Between January to November of last year, 862,825 passengers passed through the Hollywood Burbank Airport — for a 12.08% increase from 2024, according to airport data.
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Following the deadly Potomac River crash last year, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) released a rotorcraft safety roundtable media readout highlighting closely spaced airports.
"We’re also looking at the traffic flows around Hollywood Burbank Airport and Van Nuys Airport in the Los Angeles area," according to the readout.
"They’re less than 10 miles apart, each serve a wide mix of aircraft, and they have closely spaced arrival and departure paths," it continued.
The FAA temporarily lowered Van Nuys' traffic pattern in February by 200 feet, in order to "reduce conflicts with aircraft landing at Burbank," it said in a statement, based on analysis by the Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS).
Van Nuys Airport is operated by the Los Angeles city government, which also operates Los Angeles International Airport, and is dedicated to non-commercial air travel.
The Jan. 29 crash in 2025 involved an Army Black Hawk helicopter that collided midair with an American Airlines passenger plane near Ronald Reagan Washington International Airport, killing 64 people on the American Eagle flight and three aboard the military helicopter.
In a statement Wednesday, Burbank did not specifically address the warnings from Homendy expressed at the hearing. Instead, it pointed to FAA efforts.
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"Once our passengers are in planes that are taxiing and in flight (arriving or departing), safety is top priority for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)," the statement from the airport said, as Fox 11 reported. "Safety issues related to passengers, crews and aircraft while they occupy airspace are under the jurisdiction of the FAA."
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Fox News Digital’s Alexandra Koch contributed reporting.