Goodbye KRHV Reid Hillview

NordicDave

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Communication announcing the airport’s closure due to Lead contamination from GA aircraft. The actual reason is more political and Silicon Valley land developer cronies who see it as an unplowed 180 acre field.


Save Reid-Hillview Airport

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As most of you are aware, on August 17, the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to pursue the immediate closure of Reid Hillview with the FAA based on the health crisis addressed in the lead study. They also voted to pursue the exclusive sale of unleaded fuel at county airports.

The clock is now ticking on the survival of Reid Hillview Airport. Everything is now in serious jeopardy; flight training facilities, San Jose State University’s Aviation Department, a General Aviation designated reliever airport convenient to the Silicon Valley, and a convenient place to keep your aircraft. Perhaps it won’t happen immediately, but it appears now inevitable.

Reid Hillview will close unless we continue to get involved. We can make the case for its survival.

If the FAA declines to approve closure before 2031, this will take time to work its way through the courts. During this time, those who wish to save the airport must commit to doing the following:

1. Get your STC for unleaded avgas “UL94” and start using it if you are eligible. We need to do this to address the immediate “crisis”. We need to show that pilots are sincere in their interest to address the lead issue. We need to make sure the FBOs selling UL94 are financially successful and can buy it in large volumes (competitive pricing). Go tohttps://www.swiftfuelsavgas.com/stc/ right now and see whether your plane can use it. Do this now. If your plane is eligible, buy the STC and get your documentation completed and support the FBO’s selling UL94.

2. Push your local supervisor to reconsider their position on the airport. Write letters to your Supervisor and explain how aviation benefits the community through education, job creation, and as a valuable reliever airport for San Jose. We need to turn the supervisors’ (unanimous) opinions and focus on a timeframe where lead in avgas is no longer a factor.

3. Promote the airport value with friends and family. Get them involved. Get them to write letters. Polls have shown the general public supports keeping the airport open, and that message needs to be shared with the supervisors.

4. Promote the airport within the community. Participate in future Airport Day events and the EAA Young Eagles program. Wear a pilot shirt next time you volunteer at a Food Bank in East San Jose. Tag an Angel Flight Picture with “#savereidhillview”. Like us on https://www.facebook.com/SaveReidHillviewAirport/ and post good things you see aviation is doing. Get the community to see the good side of aviation.

5. Make a donation to CAAPSO and to our Political Action Committee (PAC). We are working to get pro-airport Supervisors elected into office to turn the vote around; these candidates need election funds and campaign help, and we can use that to motivate pro-airport positions. Hopefully, we can help elect Supervisors who support our airport. We are also working with professional airport development companies to promote an alternate vision for Reid Hillview and that costs money. Go to https://savereidhillview.org/ and donate.

6. Get involved with CAAPSO. Make sure you are on our mailing list at the very least. We have a couple more tricks up our sleeves, but we need to know how to get ahold of you and we may need your help. Visit us at https://savereidhillview.org/ and register. If you're already on the mailing list, thank you. :)

7. Share your ideas with us! Whether it's in the air or on the ground, the aviation community is full of passionate individuals (like you!), who love to talk about how great the field of aviation is. We'd love to hear your ideas on what we as a community can do to keep Reid-Hillview Airport in Santa Clara County. Contact us via email at info@caapso.org

8. Attend our virtual town-hall meeting. CAAPSO and AOPA are in the process of putting together a town-hall meeting to update you on the fight for Reid-Hillview as well as to answer your questions and listen to your comments. When the meeting time is set, we will send you a link!
If you're not sure what benefits to promote, check out this link for a discussion on the many values of Reid Hillview Airport.

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Thank you for your continued support!

David Goodin, President CAAPSO
Walt Gyger, VP CAAPSO
Michelle Tripp, Membership & Communications CAAPSO

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Save Reid-Hillview Airport | CAAPSO


CAAPSO | P.O. Box 3771, San Jose, CA 95154
 
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@FPK1 that just means the developers won't have to do any remediation woohoo!
 
To describe the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors as hard left or fully woke, might be an understatement.

What happened to them chanting "Follow the Science"?
 
To describe the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors as hard left or fully woke, might be an understatement.

What happened to them chanting "Follow the Science"?
Ive got a rebuttal to the "follow the science" mantra but I'll bite my tongue and feel your pain as my home drome probably has a similar fate.
 
Those left wing fools have been trying to close RHV for decades. When I lived in San Jose (left there in 1995) they were trying to close it for other reasons (the old familiar noise complaints, etc). Keep fighting the good fight.
 
This burdens my heart every time I hear about it.

I owe my entire career to the years I flew there and went from student pilot to CFII. Thousands of hours.

I wish there was some way to "repay" them for their idiocy.
 
Someone should write Elon Musk and ask him to buy the airport.

I'm not kidding.
 
People get the government they deserve.
 
We all know how this ends. Everyone can write letters, make phone calls, do everything possible. But the decision is made by people that will profit from developers. Only thing people can do is run for these town boards and local offices to try and stop the closing of airports.
 
So the lead contamination is the danger? The largest lead contamination science project in the country is Omaha Nebraska, lead manufacturing capital of the world for over a 100 years, EPA superfund site.
 
The lead gas is a pretext. This ain't "woke" stuff. They aren't "lefties" or "righties" on the town council. They're just ordinary people doing what ordinary governments have done for many, many years... exploiting a side hustle for money.
 
The lead gas is a pretext. This ain't "woke" stuff. They aren't "lefties" or "righties" on the town council. They're just ordinary people doing what ordinary governments have done for many, many years... exploiting a side hustle for money.
County Board of Supervisors, not town council.
 
We all know how this ends. Everyone can write letters, make phone calls, do everything possible. But the decision is made by people that will profit from developers. Only thing people can do is run for these town boards and local offices to try and stop the closing of airports.
Yup. But you have to campaign on closing the airport to get voted in. Then you can save it for a couple years.
 
Ugh, this reminds me of KHLM "Park Township" in Michigan. Great little airport close to the marinas and lake michigan up in Holland.
The city had a referendum on it and there was a surprisingly strong lobby against the airport, talking about how aviation wasn't safe near neighborhoods.
You can bet how the town voted with that message. They voted to turn it into a park instead, even though there's probably half a dozen other MASSIVE parks and sand-dunes within a square mile of that location.

This was the last time I saw the little airport... Sad day.
Hopefully it's possible for your guys airport to be saved...

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But won't they need airports for their new fancy e-Vtols?

I boggles my mind that people don't think of air ambulance services or any of the other things that happen at airports. Like hangar flying?
 
This is nothing more than an abuse of "science" by politicians with a financial axe to grind. I'm no fan of leaded gasoline, and it will likely be a moot point in less than a decade, but there has not been any defensible evidence presented to show that there is a public lead toxicity hazard due to airport operations. If you are really concerned about lead toxicity to the public, you would be chasing down and removing lead paint in dilapidated housing. But there is no tax revenue in that.
 
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