FAA explains new air traffic system at Corona del Mar workshop amid local opposition
Federal Aviation Administration officials presented a workshop Wednesday evening about new air traffic procedures and how they will affect Southern California facilities, including John Wayne Airport.
More than 120 people attended the session at the Oasis Senior Center in Corona del Mar, a community chosen for its longstanding interest in JWA issues.
The focus was on how Southern California airspace will be affected by the Next Generation Air Transportation System, or NextGen, a nationwide policy using satellite-based technology that FAA officials contend is more precise than current radar technology. They say NextGen’s benefits will include fuel savings, reduced carbon emissions and fewer flight delays by establishing flight plans that are less dispersed.
For Newport Beach, NextGen is expected to create a more consistent departure path from JWA, said FAA spokesman Ian Gregor, who, along with air traffic controllers and other FAA officials, attended Wednesday’s workshop.
Under NextGen, the pattern, called PIGGN, will replace another called STREL, which has been in place since 2011. Implementation of the new system has begun and is scheduled for remaining Southern California routes March 2 and April 27, including JWA, Gregor said.
Most of the planes that depart from John Wayne follow a route that takes them across the Back Bay, over a noise-monitoring station near the Back Bay Bistro restaurant and south over Balboa Island and the southeast tip of the Balboa Peninsula before heading a few miles offshore and then in the direction of their destination.
Under the new system, a precise takeoff path can be programmed into a plane’s flight plan.
“The PIGGN is essentially an overlay of the STREL. The only difference is we made some tweaks to try to create a more predictable flow of aircraft over Noise Monitor 7,” Gregor wrote in an email Thursday.
Some Balboa Island residents are concerned that the FAA’s plan will make flights even more concentrated over their homes, potentially increasing pollution and noise.
“The NextGen systems using GPS has increased the accuracy of the departures to keep planes in their exact lane,” the Balboa Island Improvement Assn. wrote in a letter to the FAA in 2015. “This technology may actually be increasing the negative environmental impacts on those directly under the departure pattern.”
The cities of Newport Beach and Laguna Beach sued the FAA last year over the NextGen plans, challenging the findings of an environmental analysis that the project would have no significant pollution or noise effects. The Orange County Board of Supervisors filed a motion in November to join that challenge.
Supervisor Todd Spitzer, whose district includes portions of Orange County affected by arriving JWA aircraft, attended Wednesday’s meeting. Outside the workshop, his team had a booth encouraging residents to submit form letters to Glen Martin, an FAA administrator. The pre-written letters contest the FAA’s findings.
Spitzer told the Los Angeles Times in November that a consultant hired by John Wayne Airport to review the FAA’s environmental report said he believed it was inadequate. The consultant told the Board of Supervisors that “it was not possible to tell from the review what the noise impacts would be,” Spitzer said.
In an interview Wednesday, Spitzer criticized the structure of the FAA workshop, which featured a variety of informational displays, maps and experts answering questions one-on-one. Spitzer contended it “diffused” opposition to the project by not having everyone gather centrally.
“This is not how you do a community event,” Spitzer said.
Gregor, who said the FAA doesn’t comment on pending litigation, noted that the Corona del Mar event was one of more than 10 community meetings officials have held about NextGen in recent years. He said the environmental report alone responded to more than 4,000 public comments.
The sessions have been helpful for many who attended, Gregor said.
“Generally, I think the process has been good,” he said.
A group of residents from Newport’s Lido Isle attended Wednesday’s meeting to learn more about the project, which they have been monitoring for some time.
Shana Conzelman, a Lido resident since 2010, said she bought a home on the island knowing it wasn’t supposed to be under the JWA flight path. But now, she said, airplane noise has gotten bad enough that it wakes her up in the morning.
Gary Grimes, a Lido resident for 24 years, said he felt “skeptically optimistic” about NextGen. He said he’s noticed an apparent increase in both the volume of flights above Lido and their noise levels.
“We’ll see how it comes out,” Grimes said of the changes.
Twitter: @BradleyZint
