Files Claim With The FAA Against Contra Costa County, CA

A claim of discrimination has been filed with the FAA against Contra Costa County, CA by the Vietnam Helicopter Museum, which alleges that the county has engaged in discrimination by repeatedly blocking its attempts to lease a hangar at Buchanan Field Airport (KCCR).

The McClatchy news service reports that Pacific States Aviation, the Conco Companies and the museum first attempted to rent a 39,000 square-foot hangar in December. The museum was ranked third in the process. They filed an informal complaint with the FAA in January saying that they had been the victim of discrimination by the county in 2015 when the county refused a request by the former tenant in the hangar to transfer ownership of the hangar and assign the lease to the museum. They say the county continued its discrimination by rejecting a bid for the hangar made by the VHM in May, and soliciting other bids for the space. Conco Companies was eventually selected.

VMH also claims that the airport has a policy of discriminating against helicopters in general. In a letter dated January 12 to Keith Freitas, director of airports, attorney Gerald Murphy wrote that "Since 2010, you and other representatives under your management of Buchanan Field Airport have expressed the arbitrary policy of the airport or specific hangars as not permitting helicopters."

The airport contends that it has treated the Vietnam Helicopter Museum fairly and has acted in accordance with federal regulations. 

FMI: www.vietnamhelicopters.org