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.
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