Goal of Study Is to Target Site Away From City

A $350,000 study is under way by the San Diego Assn. of Governments to find a new location for a commercial airport to replace Lindbergh Field. Among the sites that have been mentioned in the preliminary discussions of the study:

* Sharing Miramar Naval Air Station. One proposal, suggested in a 1981 Sandag report, calls for joint use of Miramar, with the Navy continuing its operations and local governments building terminals and two new runways at the southern end of the base, near the city landfill. Access would be from Interstate 15 and State Route 52.

The advantages of this proposal is that there is an established airport on Miramar, which at 15,400 acres would seem to offer ample room for a second facility. It is also located on a central mesa, making the descent less steep than that used for Lindbergh. At 13 miles northwest of downtown, it would be convenient to most of the county’s population.

However, the Navy refuses to share the base. Also, adding an estimated 150,000 commercial flights to the 250,000 military operations would increase noise in the neighborhoods of Tierrasanta, Scripps Ranch, Mira Mesa and Clairemont.

Miramar is a busy training base for many of the Navy’s jet fighter crews. Navy objections are based on the belief that combining military and commercial operations there would compromise the training program. Currently, there are 13 squadrons of F-14s and seven squadrons of E2s--about 250 airplanes in all--based at Miramar for training at its Top Gun school or deployment in the Pacific Fleet, said Capt. Gary M. Hughes, Miramar’s commanding officer.

Adding slower commercial aircraft to the mix would only create problems, Navy officials have maintained.

Of particular concern is what would happen to the scheduling of practice dogfights. The practice fights, or “engagements,” last a total of four minutes and are scheduled every 20 minutes over the Pacific, according to a 1983 Navy study.

The Navy is worried, however, that the schedule could be interrupted if the fighter pilots were forced to idle on a runway at Miramar so a commercial jetliner could take off. Even a delay of three to five minutes would mean the cancellation of an engagement, at a cost of $10,000, the study concludes.

“We’re an integral part of the national defense,” said Hughes during a recent tour of Miramar. “Is the readiness of the fighters to be a sacrificial lamb?”

* Taking over Miramar. This option would be open if the Navy shut down operations or could be bought out by local governments. Estimated price tag: A prohibitive $4 billion to $6 billion. Since the commercial airport would take over the existing two runways at Miramar, that cost would be offset by the savings from not having to build more runways.

* Brown Field. Former Mayor Pete Wilson nearly convinced local leaders to move the commercial airport to city-owned Brown Field in the 1970s.

One disadvantage to Brown Field, say planners, is that it may be too far south to be convenient to the county’s population. Also, it would require still-nascent and expensive microwave technology for jetliners coming in from the east to fly over Otay Mountain using their instruments and land at Brown Field in bad weather, they say.

In addition, take-offs from Brown could interfere with military helicopter maneuvers conducted in Imperial Beach.

* A San Diego-Tijuana International Airport. One suggestion calls for joining forces with Tijuana and building a new international airport on the border. Inbound planes would avoid Otay Mountain and land on a common set of runways, then taxi to terminals on their respective side of the border.

But the proposal would necessitate closing the Tijuana International Airport. Negotiating an international agreement to use Mexican airspace also would require an agreement of both federal governments. There may be reluctance on the part of U.S. federal officials about the prospective instability of operating an airport with another country. In addition, the airport may be too far south for the county’s population.

* Carmel Valley. Once mentioned in government studies as a favorite, the possibility of a Carmel Valley location was quickly abandoned because it was considered too costly to grade the hills in the area. Taken out of consideration, the area subsequently became the North City West development, just east of Del Mar.

* San Diego Bay. A proposal emerged in the 1970s to build an airport in the bay, preferably in the southern portion. Planners say the idea faces formidable obstacles, in particular the shallowness of the waters and the environmental constraints of such a development. A 1972 study estimated the construction cost of such a project back then to be almost $822 million, a consideration that brought the proposal into disfavor.

* The desert. Often kicked around but never seriously considered, this scenario would have a new commercial airport over the mountains and in the desert of eastern San Diego County. A citizens committee meeting with Sandag to advise it on technical matters of its current study calls the desert idea a “last resort” because it is so far away from the county’s population that Lindbergh Field would have to stay open as a commuter airport.

* North Island. One idea would put commercial jets at the North Island Naval Air Station in Coronado. Like suggestions to take part or all of Miramar, the proposal presents formidable problems, say planners. Those include relocating military operations, as well as providing car access through Coronado. In addition, residents of the city would surely rise up to protest the move, say planners, who relegate this idea to the back of the line.