Fullerton : Study Calls for Limits on Type of Planes at Airport

Interim results of a study of the Fullerton Municipal Airport call for further limitations on the type of aircraft that can use the community airstrip, possibly ending any hopes that the facility might ever be open to corporate jets.

The airport Noise and Safety Committee, which released the results of the ongoing study this week, is considering a proposal to bar aircraft weighing more than 9,000 pounds from using the runway. An airport spokesman said the proposal means that small jets could continue to be prohibited and that some aircraft currently using the facility could also be barred.

However, the proposal to place a weight restriction on aircraft “is not locked up firmly as yet,” Jim Brunner, administrative assistant to the airport manager, said. He said the committee is also considering other restrictions based on noise levels.

John Wayne Airport also has a weight restriction onaircraft, limiting them to 128,000 pounds per plane, according to John Escobedo, airport noise control specialist.

Brunner said the proposed weight restriction at Fullerton Airport would affect about five of the 105 small planes that make landings and takeoffs there. “Those aircraft may have to find other airports,” he said.

But small jets, which usually weigh at least 11,000 pounds when fully fueled, would still be prohibited if the proposal is accepted, Brunner said.

He said the airport’s 3,120-foot runway is not long enough to safely accommodate jets or heavy propeller craft because “they cannot get in and out safely.”

A representative of Rawlings Enterprises Inc. of Newport Beach, a consulting firm hired by the City Council to examine airport noise levels as well as the size and types of aircraft using the facility, presented the proposal to the airport committee Tuesday.

The study was ordered to update a 1976 ordinance prohibiting certain aircraft from using the runway, and some local firms had hoped that the airstrip would be open to small jets.

Brunner said the consulting firm will make further recommendations on noise levels at the committee’s monthly meeting in February.