El Toro airport needs to fly

Shirley A. Conger

The letters from Costa Mesa’s residents about the increasing air

traffic over their homes indicate a heightened awareness of the

effect of air traffic on residential neighborhoods.

Recently, there have been several changes in Federal Aviation

Administration rules as to the use of air space around John Wayne

Airport and the whole region. With these new FAA rules, commercial

jets can fly as low as 3,500 feet. Small planes must fly below this

altitude. Before, commercial planes were flying above 5,000 feet.

In addition, although air traffic is down since Sept. 11

throughout the country, both John Wayne Airport and Long Beach

Airport are experiencing increases. John Wayne will have had a 4 1/2%

increase in passenger load in the past year.

The Long Beach Airport will experience a steady increase in

flights also. This means more incoming flights over Costa Mesa,

Huntington Beach, Fountain Valley, Seal Beach and other north Orange

County cities.

The Southern California Assn. of Governments (SCAG) has planned

for 30 million passengers out of El Toro Airport by the year 2020.

Without El Toro, these flights must be absorbed by all the other

airports in the region -- Los Angeles International, Ontario, Long

Beach and John Wayne.

Without El Toro, the pressure will be on to increase passenger

load, especially at John Wayne and Long Beach. This means that north

Orange County cities will bear the brunt of the noise and air

pollution, traffic congestion and general degradation of their

quality of living.

There is an alternative. El Toro airport is the only airport in

Southern California with a buffer zone that protects those people who

live nearby. No one is in the noise zone at El Toro.

We should not allow a small, vocal group of NIMBYs who live in

Irvine to dictate our air transportation needs. We need an equitable

distribution of air traffic throughout Southern California.

* SHIRLEY A. CONGER is a Corona del Mar resident.