Airport Navigation Aid to be Used Again, FAA Says

A Federal Aviation Administration official said Monday that the agency eventually will resume using a backup radio navigation transmitter that was shut down last week at John Wayne Airport.

The airport’s VOR (very high frequency omnidirectional range) transmitter was shut down last week because its signal was being blocked by a high-rise office building under construction on MacArthur Boulevard in Santa Ana, FAA spokesman Russell Park said.

The same office complex has been responsible for a series of VOR transmission problems since early 1984, when the FAA imposed a three-month freeze on construction applications and began shutting down the transmitter periodically.

Parks said Monday that the transmitter will be returned to service at some unspecified time after construction of the 160-foot-tall Hutton Center building is completed, and the FAA has had a chance to further evaluate the signal interference problem. However, he said it’s not clear what the FAA will do if the signal remains blocked.

Noise Complaints

Signals from the transmitter help pilots using navigational instruments to determine where they are in relation to the airport. Absence of the VOR signal forces the FAA to route all aircraft landing at John Wayne over Tustin and Lemon Heights, where in recent years residents have become more vocal in their opposition to increased flights, citing noise and safety concerns.

“We’re absolutely outraged to think that we could get into this situation,” Tustin Councilman Donald J. Saltarelli said of the rerouting of aircraft over his city. “There’s a tremendous noise problem for the city. We get an awful lot of complaints.”

Saltarelli said he hadn’t noticed any increase in noise over the last week, he but added: “It’s early yet.”