Crash of Marine Helicopter

The recent crash of a Marine CH-46E helicopter has again sparked renewed calls for the Marines to vacate Orange County and move elsewhere (Feb. 15). I question the sincerity and thoughtfulness represented by such statements.

As a Marine CH-53D pilot stationed at Tustin, I am curious to learn how planning commissions or zoning laws could allow aggressive developers to build right up to airfield boundaries, or directly under clearly established flight paths. Moreover, in light of previously expressed concerns, I am amazed that these same agencies permit development which continues to encroach upon the fringes of long established and heavily used air space.

It seems that, as a result of this shortsighted community planning, a quick-fix approach, which includes urging the Marines to leave, has again resurfaced advancing the same tired old arguments.

As a member of both the civil as well as military communities, I sympathize with the community’s genuine safety concerns. I assure you that we pilots, both rotary and fixed-wing, are acutely aware of those concerns.

The military has been more than accommodating in yielding to civil concerns by further restricting helicopter routes, implementing an aggressive program to identify and thereby avoid noise-sensitive areas, as well as earnestly addressing a myriad of community concerns to include the questions of relocating.

The question of relocating to Yuma, Ariz., Twentynine Palms, Calif., or Camp Pendleton has been thoroughly researched, but the results of that research will not support the relocation of helicopter assets. We are here to stay.

What is needed are not grand statements from elected officials or vested parties, but rather understanding and mutual respect. I am sure the military will continue to accommodate the civil community’s concerns.

On the other hand, the civilian community must realize that we aviators need unencumbered air space to do our jobs and that continual encroachment without planning for aviation rights of way by uncaring developers serves neither community well.

Unfortunately, it has been my experience, as well as the general perception of my fellow aviators, that those efforts which steadily yet quietly effect better intercommunity relations are usually upstaged by ill informed or uninformed parties more interested in the immediacy of their needs, rather the community.

ANTHONY R. VANCHIERI

Costa Mesa

Vanchieri is a captain in the U.S. Marine Corps who flies helicopters out of the Tustin facility.