The owner of Mustang Airport wants to widen the runway, install hangars and open the facility for public use. The airport is just south of the Cosumnes River Preserve…which is home to thousands of birds. Mike Conner with The Nature Conservancy says adding flights to an area with so many birds is too dangerous.

 

“Expanding it to a publicly used airport with 100 hangars is like putting a gas station on the side of an active volcano. We know from the crash on the Hudson (River) that planes and birds don’t mix.”

 

But Diane Kindermann…an attorney for the airport’s owner… says it’s not uncommon to have airports near wildlife areas in California.

“There are 80 airports in California within two to five miles of federal and state designated habitat areas. More than 50 of them area adjacent to airports. There are no issues with bird strikes at these airports.” 

Sacramento County Planning Commissioners have already given the go-ahead for the project. The issue is expected to go to the county Board of Supervisors this summer.