Pilot Wins Wheelchair Access : Van Nuys Airport Cleared for Disabled

A paraplegic pilot who once had to crawl on his hands into a building at Van Nuys Airport was promised Friday that 18 private airport businesses will be remodeled to provide access to wheelchairs.

The Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously to require ramps, widened doors, elevators and special restrooms at 29 buildings to settle a $2-million lawsuit filed by flier Jeffrey Minnebraker.

“They are all man-made barriers,” Minnebraker said of the doorways, steps and restrooms at companies that line the edge of the city-owned land.

“I’m not trying to get anybody to fill in the Grand Canyon so I can push through. I just want to be able to do business at the airport.”

Minnebraker, 35, of Santa Monica, operates a seaplane-customizing company called Amphibians West at the airport. He learned to fly after his legs were paralyzed 12 years ago in an automobile accident.

He said he became aware of the access problem after renting a hangar to launch his aircraft business three years ago. Besides modifying planes, his firm also maintains and houses corporate jets.

Minnebraker said he was forced to crawl up steps and drag his wheelchair behind him for business meetings with officials at Federal Aviation Administration offices at the airport .

Elsewhere at the city-owned airport, he was required to drive a motorized, all-terrain vehicle on the airport Tarmac to reach aviation companies and suppliers, he said.

FAA Lawsuit Pending

Lawyer Dan Stormer pursued Minnebraker’s case to U.S. District Court with the assistance of the Western Law Center for the Handicapped at Loyola Law School. Stormer said an access lawsuit against the FAA is still pending.

Nora Quinn, a lawyer for the center, said experts will be hired to monitor the renovations as part of the agreement, which included an $83,000 payment by the city.

Operators of several airport businesses targeted in the crackdown denied late Friday that they lack proper access for the disabled.

“We have ramps, automatic doors, paraplegic restrooms, wide aisles,” said Brian Mah, food-services manager at the 3-year-old Airtel Plaza Hotel. “I’m sure we comply.”

Scott Dunham, facilities manager for Beechcraft West, an aviation company, said his business has ramps and accessible restrooms. He said the city owns all but one of the buildings his company uses--which means it should have to pay for any improvements ordered.

But Gary Netzer, a senior assistant city attorney, said all city-owned buildings at the airport comply with disabled access laws.