Helicopters and Irvine Homeowners

I’m responding to Geoffrey Post’s letter of Sept. 11 entitled “Living Near a Base.” He asks how bright the commanding officers of Tustin and El Toro Marine Air Stations are, and he maintains that unstable helicopters fly 50 feet over his Irvine house.

Post is not well informed. A simple call to the base provides the following information:

Helicopters do not fly 50 feet over the houses. Rather, they fly 2,000 to 2,400 feet above mean sea level.

Helicopters could hardly be called unstable or unreliable. There has never been an accident in a populated area in the nearly 50 years of operation at Tustin, and they continue to book 6,000 hours of accident-free flying hours per month--each month!

Education?

Col. Robert F. Wemheuer, commanding officer of Tustin MCAS, has, among his many degrees, a doctorate from Pepperdine University in education and business administration. His doctoral thesis was on noise compatibility in communities.

Maj. Gen. D.E.P. Miller, commanding general of the 3rd Marine Air Wing at El Toro MCAS, has a masters in public administration from USC among his many degrees. Brig. Gen. David V. Shuter, commanding general of MCAS has, among his degrees, a bachelor of science in aeronautical engineering. Not too shabby.

And one last thing: The Tustin base has been in operation since the late 1930s, when virtually no houses existed there. All people purchasing a house in the Irvine area are now required to read and sign a fact-and-disclosure statement before buying in Irvine. This document informs buyers that there will be military aircraft in the skies above Irvine.

Now, here’s an intelligence question for you, Mr. Post: If you don’t like aircraft over you, why did you purchase a house underneath the flight pattern?

M. A. BARNES

Laguna Beach