Solutions for air needs and noise exist, but at El Toro

William Kearns

In the Aug. 25 Daily Pilot, there were five letters complaining

about airplane noise in the Mesa Verde area of Costa Mesa caused by

Long Beach-bound flights (Readers Respond, “If it’s not one airport,

it’s another”). I have lived in Mesa Verde North for more than 31

years and I, too, was surprised at the recent increase in noise from

airplanes bound for Long Beach.

A letter from Danniel J. Wexler attributes the cause to the

“seemingly ever-growing population here in the Southland for

commercial flights.” He is only partially correct.

The flights in question are not all local, but originate as far

from California as the East Coast. Those planes are on an

FAA-mandated flight pattern at an altitude of 3,500 feet that aligns

their approach with the Long Beach 10,000-foot runway. They are

indicative of the growing national shortage of airport capacity to

handle the increasing passenger demand, including that of the

Southland. Wexler made an excellent request that the Daily Pilot

provide more information on airport matters for the readers.

However, I am frankly surprised at the level of discomfort

expressed in those five letters. These same planes fly directly over

my house, but when cars pass my house, they drown out the noise of

the planes. The friendly police helicopters that fly at any time, day

or night, at low altitudes and shine searchlights into my patio at

midnight are far more annoying, although necessary.

Slow, low-flying private planes are noisier that the jets flying

over at 3,500 feet. Tim Cromwell’s suggestion that Long Beach inbound

flights follow the San Diego Freeway is not aligned with the runway.

He is right about one thing: the freeway would drown out the noise of

such flights. I know because I hear the freeway noise all day and all

night. So we seem to have Nimbys everywhere, not just in South

County.

In contrast, I found the cooperative attitude expressed by Roger

Summers of Santa Ana Heights in an in-depth interview with Daily

Pilot City Editor James Meier showed a refreshing understanding of

the combination of airports and good living areas (“Paving the way to

annexation(s)”).

However, all bets on our community noise control are off if El

Toro airport is not reopened to absorb the ever-growing appetite for

flying by the rapidly expanding, affluent population of South County.

Otherwise, John Wayne Airport settlement agreement notwithstanding,

John Wayne must expand to accommodate this growing demand if South

County will not do its fair share to meet the passenger demand of its

own population. That expansion could physically engulf businesses in

Costa Mesa and Newport Beach.

Reopening El Toro will realign Orange County flights into a

sensible pattern where the planes will have two comfortable

10,000-foot runways on a 4,700-acre airport and where no one is in

the noise zone because of the isolation provided by the attached

21-square-mile buffer zone. Compare that to John Wayne, which has one

5,700-foot runway on a tiny airport of 500 acres with no buffer zone

close to many homes and businesses in the noise zone.

* WILLIAM KEARNS is a Costa Mesa resident.