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Airport Burbank (USA) - Bob Hope

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Bob Hope Airport
(former Lockheed Air Terminal)
USGS 2006 orthophoto
IATA: BUR ICAO: KBUR FAA LID: BUR
Summary
Airport type Public
Owner Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority
Serves Los Angeles Area
Location Burbank, California
Elevation AMSL 778 ft / 237 m
Coordinates 34°1202N 118°2131W / 34.20056°N 118.35861°W / 34.20056; -118.35861Coordinates: 34°1202N 118°2131W / 34.20056°N 118.35861°W / 34.20056; -118.35861
Website www.BobHopeAirport.com
Map
BUR
Location in San Fernando Valley
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
15/33 6,885 2,099 Asphalt
8/26 5,802 1,768 Asphalt
Statistics (2011)
Aircraft operations 130,756
Based aircraft 91
Sources: FAA,[1] airport website[2]

Bob Hope Airport (IATA: BUR, ICAO: KBUR, FAA LID: BUR) is a public use airport three miles (5 km) northwest of downtown Burbank, a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States.[1] The airport serves the northern Greater Los Angeles area, including Glendale, Pasadena, and the San Fernando Valley. It is closer to Griffith Park and Hollywood than is Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), and is the only airport in the area with a direct rail connection to downtown Los Angeles. Non-stop flights go mostly to cities in the western United States, but jetBlue Airways has a daily red-eye flight to New York City.

The airport was originally in the city limits, but the west end of Runway 8/26 and the north end of Runway 15/33 have been extended into the City of Los Angeles.

The airport is owned by the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority, controlled by the governments of those three cities. The Airport Authority contracts with TBI Airport Management, Inc. to operate the airport. The airport has its own police department, the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority Police. Boarding uses airstairs or ramps rather than jet bridges.

Federal Aviation Administration records show the airport had 2,647,287 passenger boardings (enplanements) in calendar year 2008,[3] 2,294,991 enplanements in 2009, and 2,239,804 in 2010.[4] It is included in the National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 20112015, which categorized it as a primary commercial service airport (more than 10,000 enplanements per year).[5]

Contents

History [edit]

The airport has been known as Angeles Mesa Drive Airport (19281930),[6] United Airport (19301934), Union Air Terminal (19341940), Lockheed Air Terminal (19401967), Hollywood-Burbank Airport (19671978), Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport (19782003) and most recently Bob Hope Airport (2003present).

Boeing Aircraft and Transport (BA&T) was a holding company created in 1928 that included Boeing Aircraft and United Air Lines, itself a holding company for a collection of small airlines that continued to operate under their own names. One of these airlines was Pacific Air Transport (PAT), which Boeing had acquired because of PAT's west coast mail contract in January 1928.[7] BA&T then sought a suitable site for a new airport for PAT, and found one in Burbank. BA&T had the benefit of surveys that the Aeronautics Department of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce had conducted starting in 1926 to identify potential airport sites.[8]

It took BA&T a year and the cooperation of the city to assemble the site.[9] The 234-acre (0.95 km2) site was rife with vines and trees and the ground had to be filled and leveled, but it had good drainage, a firm landing surface, steady winds, and good access to ground transport.[10] Construction was completed in just seven months. In an age when few aircraft had brakes and many had a tail skid instead of a wheel, runways were not usually paved; those at Burbank had a 5-inch-thick (130 mm) mixture of oil and sand. There were no taxi strips, but the designers left room for them. Two of the runways were over 3,600 feet (1,100 m) long; a third was 2,900 feet (880 m); all were 300 feet (91 m) wide. These were generous dimensions, and the site had room for expansion.[11]

United Airport was dedicated amid much festivity (including an air show) on Memorial Day weekend (May 30 June 1), 1930. Aerial view looking SE The airport and its handsome Spanish revival terminal was a showy competitor to the nearby Grand Central Airport in neighboring Glendale, which was then Los Angeles' main airline terminal. The new Burbank facility was actually the largest commercial airport in the Los Angeles area until it was eclipsed in 1946 by the Los Angeles Airport in Westchester when that facility (formerly Mines Field, then Los Angeles Municipal Airport) commenced scheduled airline operations.

The Burbank facility remained United Airport until 1934 when it was renamed Union Air Terminal. The name change came the same year that Federal anti-trust actions caused United Aircraft and Transport Corp. to dissolve, which took effect September 26, 1934. The Union Air Terminal moniker stuck until Lockheed bought the airport in 1940 and renamed it Lockheed Air Terminal.

In March 1939 sixteen airline departures a day were scheduled out of Burbank: eight on United, five on Western and three on TWA (American's three departures were still at Glendale).[12] Commercial air traffic continued even while Lockheed's extensive aircraft-manufacturing facilities supplied the war effort and developed numerous military and commercial aircraft in the war years and into the mid-1960s. The April 1957 OAG shows nine weekday departures on Western, six on United, six on Pacific Air Lines (which subsequently merged with Bonanza Airlines and West Coast Airlines to form Air West), one TWA and one American (a nonstop to Chicago Midway). Pacific Southwest Airlines (PSA) had 48 Douglas DC-4 departures a week to SFO and SAN (they didn't fly out of LAX until 1958).[13]

By the late 1960s Pacific Air Lines was flying new Boeing 727-100s nonstop to Las Vegas. In later years PSA operated Boeing 727200, McDonnell Douglas MD-80 and BAe 146 jets from the airfield. Hughes Airwest (previously Air West) flew Douglas DC-9-30s nonstop to Las Vegas, Phoenix, Salt Lake City and Denver with onestop DC-9s to Houston Hobby Airport. Hughes Airwest even operated one-stop jets to Grand Canyon National Park Airport near the south rim of the Grand Canyon. In spring/summer 1986 two United Airlines Boeing 767200s a day flew nonstop to Chicago, the largest passenger aircraft ever scheduled into Burbank.

At 3:30 p.m. on February 13, 1966 a fire broke out in a greasy flue in the kitchen of the terminal building's second-floor restaurant, The Sky Room. Fanned by gusty winds the fire spread through the terminal and control tower. Controllers in the tower were able to escape on an aerial ladder and air traffic was diverted to nearby Van Nuys Airport and Los Angeles International Airport for several hours. A controller communicated with aircraft using the radio in a light airplane belonging to Sky Roamers Air Travel, a flying club whose hangar was just east of the control tower. The fire, contained by about 6:30 p.m., caused an estimated $2 million in damages to the terminal, tower, and equipment in the tower. No injuries were reported.

Lockheed officials declared that the airport would reopen the next day, and it did, using electronic equipment borrowed from LAX and set up in a nearby hangar. The hangar also served as the airport's temporary passenger terminal and baggage claim area. The gutted terminal and tower were rebuilt and reopened the following year.

In 1967 Lockheed renamed the facility Hollywood-Burbank Airport. In 1969 Continental Airlines began Boeing 720B flights to Portland and Seattle via San Jose and also flew the short hop to Ontario. Continental later switched to Boeing 727200s with some flights continuing on to Chicago O'Hare via Ontario. Continental went on to serve Denver with nonstop Boeing 727200s from BUR. Later Alaska Airlines started nonstop and direct 727-200s to Seattle and Portland from BUR, their first flights to southern California. More recently Aloha Airlines pioneered flights to Hawaii, flying Boeing 737700s nonstop to Honolulu before ceasing operations due to financial problems.

The facility remained Hollywood-Burbank Airport for over a decade until 1978 when Lockheed sold the airport to the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority. The airport then got its fifth name: Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport (19782003).

On November 11, 2003 the airport authority voted to change the name to Bob Hope Airport in honor of comedian Bob Hope, a longtime resident of nearby Toluca Lake, who had died earlier that year and who had kept his personal airplane at the airfield. The new name was unveiled on December 17, 2003, on the 100th anniversary of the Wright brothers' first flight in 1903, the year that Bob Hope was born.

Numerous attempts to expand safety buffer zones and add runway length have drawn opposition from the airports neighbors, citing increased noise. Open space around the airport is non-existent, making land acquisition unlikely.

In 2005 the airport celebrated its 75th anniversary; in 2006 it served 5,689,291 travelers on seven major carriers, with more than 70 flights daily.

After much debate between the Airport Authority, the city of Burbank, the Transportation Security Administration, and Burbank residents, in November 2007 it was decided that a new $8- to $10-million baggage screening facility for Terminal B is legal, considering the anti-growth limitations placed on the airport. The facility will house a $2.5-million Explosive Detection System, used for the automatic detection of explosives within checked luggage. However, the facility is still in the early planning phases, and may be vetoed if the residents of Burbank rally against it.[14]

The land occupied by the old Lockheed buildings (demolished in the 1990s) at the corners of Empire Avenue and Hollywood Way and Thornton Avenue, is now the site of a growing power center commercial development with major chain restaurants and businesses.

Facilities and aircraft [edit]

Bob Hope Airport covers 610 acres (247 ha) at an elevation of 778 feet (237 m) above mean sea level. It has two asphalt runways: 15/33 is 6,885 by 150 feet (2,099 x 46 m) and 8/26 is 5,802 by 150 feet (1,768 x 46 m).[1] Commercial aircraft generally take off on Runway 15 due to wind from the south, and land crosswind on Runway 8 since that is the only runway with ILS and clear terrain for the approach. Flights from the northeast will sometimes land visually on Runway 15 to save the extra distance circling to Runway 8. When wind is from the north airliners often make a visual left-base approach to Runway 33, with a sharp left turn close to the airport.

For the 12-month period ending October 31, 2006 the airport had 130,849 operations, an average of 358 per day: 52% scheduled commercial, 31% general aviation, 16% air taxi and <1% military. There are 108 aircraft based at this airport: 47% jet, 28% single-engine, 19% multi-engine and 6% helicopter.[1]

For the 12-month period ending November 30, 2011, the airport had 130,756 operations, an average of 358 per day: 45% scheduled commercial, 43% general aviation, 12% air taxi, and <1% military. At that time there were 91 aircraft based at this airport: 55% jet, 25% single-engine, 17% multi-engine, and 3% helicopter.[1]

Terminals [edit]

Bob Hope Airport has two terminals, "A" and "B", joined together as part of the same building. Terminal A has nine gates numbered A1 to A9 and Terminal B has five gates numbered B1 to B5.

Airlines and destinations [edit]

Airlines Destinations Terminal
Alaska Airlines Seattle/Tacoma B
Alaska Airlines
operated by SkyWest Airlines		 Portland (OR) B
Delta Connection
operated by SkyWest Airlines		 Salt Lake City B
JetBlue Airways New York-JFK A
SeaPort Airlines Imperial A
Southwest Airlines Denver, Las Vegas, Oakland, Phoenix, Sacramento, San Jose (CA) A
United Express
operated by SkyWest Airlines		 Denver, San Francisco B
US Airways Express
operated by Mesa Airlines		 Phoenix A
US Airways Express
operated by SkyWest Airlines		 Phoenix A

Note: Alaska's check-in counters are in Terminal A.

Statistics [edit]

Top ten busiest domestic routes out of BUR
(February 2012January 2013) [15]
Rank City Passengers Carriers
1 Oakland, CA 396,000 Southwest
2 Las Vegas, NV 353,000 Southwest
3 Phoenix, AZ 288,000 Southwest, US Airways
4 Sacramento, CA 206,000 Southwest
5 San Jose, CA 193,000 Southwest
6 Seattle, WA 130,000 Alaska
7 Denver, CO 111,000 Southwest, United
8 New York, NY (JFK) 83,000 JetBlue
9 San Francisco, CA 80,000 United
10 Portland, OR 72,000 Alaska

Ground transportation [edit]

Car [edit]

Bob Hope Airport can be reached using the Hollywood Way exit (number 149) off Interstate 5, the Hollywood Way (west) or Pass Ave (east) exit (number 2) off State Route 134, or the Victory Boulevard exit (number 8B) off State Route 170. Car and pedestrian access to the terminal is provided at either Hollywood Way and Thornton Avenue or on Empire Avenue one block west of Hollywood Way. On-site parking consists of valet parking, short-term parking, and Parking Lots D and E. Remote Parking Lot A is located at Hollywood Way and Winona Avenue. Remote Parking Lot B is located on Hollywood Way north of Burton Avenue. Remote Parking Lot C is located on Thornton Avenue west of Ontario Street. Shuttle buses are provided from Parking Lots A, B, C, and D to the terminal buildings. A shuttle stop is also located at the corner of Hollywood Way and Thornton Avenue.[2]

Bus [edit]

No municipal bus service is offered direct to the terminal building, however, the MTA provides bus service to the corner of Hollywood Way and Thornton Ave via lines 94, 169 (weekends and holidays only), 222 (the region's only direct bus route from an airport to Hollywood), and 794. Shuttle buses stop on Hollywood and Thornton and continue directly to the terminal. Bus service at the Empire Avenue entrance is also provided via line 165.[16] Amtrak also provides service to the Bob Hope Airport Train Station via its Thruway Motorcoach service to Bakersfield, CA.

Rail [edit]
Main article: Bob Hope Airport Train Station

Metrolink's Ventura County Line provides access via the Bob Hope Airport Train Station to downtown Los Angeles and Ventura County. Amtrak's Pacific Surfliner provides access to San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, downtown Los Angeles, Anaheim, and San Diego. The train station is a short walk from the terminal area; and a free shuttle connects the terminals and the train station.

Metro Rail's Red Line to downtown Los Angeles ends 3.2 km (2 miles) from the airport. There is a free shuttle from the airport.

Expansion [edit]

In 2002, Terminal A was renovated and expanded. Plans existed for years to expand the airport with a new passenger terminal north of the existing one, but these plans have been scrapped due to significant opposition from the Burbank City Council and local groups.

A 2004 Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) report cited the need for expansion at this airport, but for now this seems impossible due to agreed upon restrictions of the size and number of gates. Under a development agreement, no gate expansions to the terminal are permitted until after 2015. The current passenger terminal is too close to the runways according to current safety standards but is grandfathered in because of its age.

Incidents [edit]

Bob Hope Airport was initially built for smaller aircraft; as a consequence, the airport has one of the smallest commercially used runways in the United States. The result is a challenging landing for even the most experienced pilots.

  • On September 21, 1938, USAAC Chief Maj. Gen. Oscar Westover was killed in the crash of Northrop A-17AS, 36-349, c/n 289, '1', out of Bolling Field, Washington, D.C., in a crosswind short of the runway. The single-engined attack design, used as a high-speed staff transport, crashed into a house at 1007 Scott Road in Burbank. Also killed was Westover's mechanic, S/Sgt Samuel Hymes.[17] (Another source identifies him as Sgt. Samuel Hyne.)[18] Northeast Air Base, Massachusetts, was renamed Westover Field on December 1, 1939, later Westover AFB on January 13, 1948.[19]
  • On September 8, 1955, Currey Air Transport Flight 24, a Douglas DC-3 bound for Oakland, crashed on the airport property while returning to the airfield after experiencing an engine failure shortly after takeoff. The plane, N74663, struck a powerline on the southern boundary of the airport, causing it to crash into two parked Air Force C-54 aircraft and a Lockheed Aircraft service hanger. The pilot, co-pilot and a Lockheed employee on the ground were killed; the plane's stewardess and one passenger were seriously injured. The remaining 29 passengers on board received minor injuries.
  • On December 14, 1962, a Flying Tiger Line Lockheed L-1049H Super Constellation freighter (N6913C) crashed in dense fog 1-1/2 miles west of the airport during an instrument landing system (ILS) approach to Runway 07. The Constellation clipped a telephone pole and billboard and crashed in an industrial and residential neighborhood near the intersection of Lankershim Boulevard and Vose Street in North Hollywood after the aircraft's 38-year-old pilot suffered a heart attack at a critical point in the landing approach. All five occupants of the Constellationthe pilot, co-pilot, flight engineer and two non-revenue passengersdied in the crash. Also killed were two persons in a commercial building and a teen-age girl in a house that were among the structures struck by the plane.
  • On December 5, 1982, Douglas C-53 N163E operated by P Crossman was damaged beyond repair in a taxiing accident.[20]
  • On March 5, 2000, Southwest Airlines Flight 1455, upon landing on Runway 8 at Burbank following a flight from Las Vegas, overran the runway, injuring 43. The Boeing 737 crashed through a metal blast barrier at the end of the runway, then an airport perimeter fence, and came to rest in the traffic lanes of Hollywood Way, a main north-south thoroughfare. The plane stopped close to a Chevron gasoline station located across the street from the runway. The incident resulted in the dismissal of the pilots. The Chevron gasoline station was subsequently closed and removed due to safety concerns.
  • On September 21, 2005, JetBlue Airways Flight 292, took off from Burbank, and the front wheel of the aircraft failed to retract and instead jammed at a 90 degree angle perpendicular to the direction the wheels normally face. The aircraft spent several hours in the air before safely making an emergency landing at Los Angeles International Airport, with 140 passengers and 6 crew members aboard. The Airbus A320 was originally bound for JFK International Airport, in New York City, New York. After the aircraft took off, the incident was quickly captured by news helicopters which ran feed that was shown live nationally on cable news. Notably, many passengers on the flight said they watched images of their own aircraft's plight on JetBlue's LiveTV system.

Filming location [edit]

The airport has been used as a filming location for projects including:

  • The 1956 film Giant, starring Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson and James Dean. Nearby Warner Bros. studio utilized the airport during filming in 1955 to shoot the "Jett Rink Day" parade and celebration sequence, in which Taylor and Hudson arrive by plane at Jett Rink's new airport and discover that their daughter, Luz (played by Carroll Baker), has been named "queen" of the festivities when they see her riding in an open convertible in the parade.
  • The 1988 music video for In My Darkest Hour, a song by Megadeth. Many Southern California metal fans were on hand after hearing an advertising campaign on now-defunct radio station KNAC. The film shoot turned rowdy, with fans spray-painting planes on the tarmac and leaving broken bottles on the runway.

See also [edit]

United States Air Force portal
Military of the United States portal
World War II portal
Los Angeles portal
Aviation portal

References [edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e FAA Airport Master Record for BUR (Form 5010 PDF). Federal Aviation Administration. Effective May 31, 2012.
  2. ^ a b Bob Hope Airport (official site)
  3. ^ "Enplanements for CY 2008" (PDF, 1.0 MB). CY 2008 Passenger Boarding and All-Cargo Data. Federal Aviation Administration. December 18, 2009. 
  4. ^ "Enplanements for CY 2010" (PDF, 189 KB). CY 2010 Passenger Boarding and All-Cargo Data. Federal Aviation Administration. October 4, 2011. 
  5. ^ "20112015 NPIAS Report, Appendix A" (PDF, 2.03 MB). National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems. Federal Aviation Administration. October 4, 2010. 
  6. ^ Boeing System: Pacific Air Transport Timetable 1929
  7. ^ D. D. Hatfield, Los Angeles Aeronautics, 19201929 (Inglewood, CA:Northrop University Press, 1973, 1976), 111; William Garvey and David Fisher, The Age of Flight: A History of America's Pioneering Airline (Greensboro, NC: Pace Communications, 2002), 20607.
  8. ^ Dr. Ford A. Carpenter, A Preliminary Report on the Airports or Landing Fields of Los Angeles County, prepared for the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, October 1, 1926, typescript in the LAX Archive. This report includes photographs and descriptions of existing airports, including meteorological data and a location map. Regional Planning Commission, County of Los Angeles, Master Plan (Los Angeles, CA: Hall of Records, 1929.) Some authors claim, without documentation, that a federal Department of Commerce survey identified the site. The fact that Dr. Carpenter had been the Los Angeles meteorologist for the U. S. Weather Bureau and the Chamber's "Department of Aeronautics" name may explain the confusion.
  9. ^ Burbank City Council, Minutes, January 29, 1929; March 26, 1929; April 16, 1929.
  10. ^ United Airport of Burbank," typescript information sheet in the Archives of the Burbank Historical Society; n.p., but 12.
  11. ^ "United Airport of Burbank," 3; Los Angeles County Regional Planning Commission, A Comprehensive Report on the Master Plan of Airports for the Los Angeles County Regional Planning District (1940), 122.
  12. ^ Official Aviation Guide, Chicago IL: Official Aviation Guide Company, 1939 
  13. ^ Official Airline Guide, Washington DC: American Aviation Publications, 1957 
  14. ^ Oberstein, J: "Firm approves new screening facility", Burbank Leader, November 6, 2007. Retrieved November 19, 2007.
  15. ^ http://www.transtats.bts.gov/airports.asp?pn=1&Airport=BUR&Airport_Name=Burbank,%20CA:%20Burbank%20Bob%20Hope&carrier=FACTS
  16. ^ LACMTA System Map
  17. ^ Bowers, Peter M., "Captain of the Clouds", Airpower, Granada Hills, California, July 1972, Volume 2, Number 4, p. 33.
  18. ^ Matthews, Birch, "Cobra!: Bell Aircraft Corporation 19341946", Schiffer Publishing Limited, Atglen, Pennsylvania, 1996, Library of Congress card number 95-72357, ISBN 0-88740-911-3, p. 87.
  19. ^ Mueller, Robert, "Air Force Bases Volume 1: Active Air Force Bases Within the United States of America on 17 September 1982", United States Air Force Historical Research Center, Office of Air Force History, Washington, D.C., 1989, ISBN 0-912799-53-6, p. 577.
  20. ^ "N163E Accident report". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 13 July 2010. 

External links [edit]


 Sun Valley Sun Valley & Verdugo Mountains Verdugo Mountains & Sunland-Tujunga, Los Angeles
North Hollywood & I-170 Burbank & I-5
  Bob Hope Airport  
North Hollywood Toluca Lake, Los Angeles Burbank
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