For more than three decades, Garden Grove residents have lived peacefully near the GKN Aerospace plant — until they were forced to flee Friday under the threat that an unstable tank was likely to spew dangerous chemicals into the community.
Before the chemical crisis, the plant on Western Avenue was primarily known as a worldwide leading manufacturer of cockpit windshields, jet canopies and aviation windows for civil and military aircraft. The site, which employs 540, even developed a line of special bullet-resistant glass.
GKN Aerospace’s Orange County site is one of 36 plants around the world operated by a massive company that started off in 1759 as an ironworks operation in South Wales.
Through the centuries, the United Kingdom-based firm has evolved into an international supplier of jet engines, landing gear, plane bodies and airplane windows, known as transparencies. According to the company’s website, GKN Aerospace parts are used in 90% of the passenger planes, helicopters and fighter jets flown around the world.
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If you’ve ever flown in a window seat, there’s a good chance you were peering out of a GKN product. GKN Aerospace is the world leader in passenger cabin window design development and manufacturing, according to its website.
But the name now is aligned with the ominous announcement Friday by an Orange County Fire Authority chief that the tank would either leak up to 7,000 gallons of toxic chemicals onto the property or … explode. He saw no other options.
The chemical, methyl methacrylate, is used in the production of plastics and is highly toxic and flammable.
A quick review of the company’s past found it was cited in 2025 by the South Coast Air Quality Management District for failure to maintain records, failure to obtain permits/permit modifications and using materials containing hexavalent chrome, which is highly dangerous to workers and infamous for contaminating water.
GKN also was found to exceed facility-wide volatile organic compound emissions, failure to perform source tests and failure to conduct “PATs.” It is unclear what PATs are. The facility was later found to be in compliance.
Orange County Superior Court records show the company also was penalized by the California Department of Industrial Relations in 2018 for failing to ensure that all machinery and equipment in service was inspected and maintained at its Garden Grove facility following an April 2018 inspection.
In the report, the Department of Industrial Relations cited “fabricating and adding a top cover on head cover of Fadal CNC machines and using appropriate cutting coolant.”
The department did not respond to an email seeking clarification.
Aviation enthusiasts will recognize some of the Garden Grove facility’s accomplishments. It manufactures the canopy for the F-35 Lightning II fighter jet as well as the windows for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, the Airbus A350, HondaJet and Bombardier C-Series.
The windows are built to withstand extreme conditions, such as bird strikes and high pressure. GKN Aerospace has two other transparency manufacturing sites in the United States. Two more company facilities in San Diego County manufacture aerostructures, engine systems and special military technologies.
“At GKN Aerospace, sustainability, safety and ethical practices drive everything we do,” said the company website. “We aim to lead the industry in developing technologies that rapidly decarbonize existing aircraft while innovating a new generation of engines that produce no emissions at all.”