Local News in Brief : Villa Park : Airport to Test New Directional Device
The county Board of Supervisors, despite objections from city officials, approved Tuesday a $90,000 test of a new navigational aid at John Wayne Airport that would allow flights to resume over Villa Park and Orange.
The board agreed to test a so-called localizer directional device as a replacement for the very high frequency omnidirectional range (VOR) transmitter that has been shut off for 10 months because of interference from a new, high-rise office tower at Hutton Centre in Santa Ana.
Absence of the VOR beacon has diverted aircraft to the same landing approach over Tustin used by commercial jetliners.
A VOR broadcasts in all directions; a localizer broadcasts beams along narrow paths in line with the runways and includes “glide slopes” for angling aircraft down through their descent. The approach over Tustin already uses a localizer, a device that employs radio signals less susceptible to interference from tall buildings.
But Villa Park residents don’t want the air traffic back over their city.
City Manager Fred Maley said that, despite the denials of airport officials, the new beacon is “intended as a noise abatement device for the City of Tustin at the expense of the cities of Orange and Villa Park.”
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