Shortage of Controllers Delays Wayne Safety Zone

Enforcement of a new air safety zone around John Wayne Airport has been delayed at least 2 months to allow time to hire more air traffic controllers at an already understaffed controllers’ facility in El Toro, Federal Aviation Administration officials said Wednesday.

Implementation of the new Airport Radar Service Area, or ARSA, in which pilots must be in two-way radio communication with air traffic controllers, is being postponed from July 27 to some time after Sept. 21, according to FAA spokeswoman Elly Brekke.

Currently, most aircraft fly through the area using “see and be seen” visual flight rules.

Working conditions at the FAA’s Coast Terminal Approach Radar Control facility in El Toro were strongly criticized Wednesday in a report by the National Transportation Safety Board. The NTSB staff conducted a 3-month study of near-misses blamed on controller errors, including a Feb. 13 incident in which a British Airways jumbo jet nearly collided with an American Airlines jetliner over Westminster.

Coast TRACON has been understaffed for several years, with controllers there working mandatory overtime shifts. There has been a national shortage since the air controllers strike in the early 1980s. But Orange County, in particular, has had difficulty attracting people because of the high cost of living. The FAA proposes to remedy that with a proposed 20% salary bonus to controllers at 11 FAA facilities around the country, including Coast TRACON.

FAA officials announced plans for the new ARSA requirements last summer over the objections of some small-aircraft pilots, who said that they should not have to be in two-way communication when passing through the area. However, some pilots said that they appreciate controller guidance when flying through the area, but that requests for such assistance often are turned down due to controllers’ lack of time.

The new ARSA will cover a section of sky extending 10 miles north and south of the airport. The section’s width varies from about 4 miles at its northern boundary, between Anaheim and Tustin, to about 15 miles at its southern boundary off the coast between Huntington Beach and Laguna Beach.

Various sectors within the section will have their own maximum and minimum altitude requirements. For example, within a 5-mile radius of John Wayne Airport, pilots must maintain two-way radio communication with air traffic controllers when flying at altitudes below 4,400 feet. But 7 miles west of the airport, the requirement applies only to pilots flying at altitudes ranging from 2,500 feet to 5,400 feet.

An ARSA is not as restrictive as a Terminal Control Area, in which pilots must have permission from air traffic controllers before entering specific zones that are identified on pilots’ air navigation charts.