Noise From Military Helicopters Above Laguna Beach

The noise of military helicopters over Laguna Beach is absolutely unnecessary and unacceptable.

Let me state that I have lived in Laguna for over 30 years, am a patriotic taxpayer and have always been tolerant of our military neighbors from El Toro, Tustin and Pendleton. However, I believe something has changed over the years, and our military neighbors are now abusing us.

In the old days, we grew accustomed to the occasional ruckus of the El Toro jets scrambling out over our heads. That was part of living in Laguna, and nobody really complained about it.

Well, today the screaming jets seem to have been rerouted somewhere else, and only the occasional air tanker goes out overhead from El Toro. The occasional jet is gone, but now Laguna seems to be the constant training area for helicopter pilots.

I believe the people in charge of this are taking advantage of the famous Laguna Beach tolerance. We have demonstrated that we will tolerate a great deal in this town, so long as it doesn’t significantly affect our individual quality of life. Well, I believe our helicopter commanders have exceeded that boundary by a wide margin.

What brought this home to me was a recent eight-week stay I had in the suburbs of our nation’s capital. One could sit out on the patio during the day or barbecue at night and be surrounded only by birds and crickets, not the “Apocalypse Now” racket that Laguna Beach must tolerate seven days a week from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. And, of course, our weekend warriors seem to take extra delight in awakening us bright and early every Saturday and Sunday morning.

I don’t know anything about military helicopters, but clearly noise abatement standards are simply not a priority issue for these machines. Have you ever heard anything noisier than a half-dozen Hueys flying in twos, 200 feet over our coastline? Making it worse is our Laguna Beach world famous Riviera-like geography--a curved coastline with surrounding hills and a natural sound container and reverberator!

What possible excuse do these people have to monopolize our coastline as a practice run? There is plenty of empty space over land just a little farther south and east of us. If they must practice low-altitude water runs, they should go five miles out over the ocean. And there is always the monstrous Camp Pendleton Marine base down south, with unlimited practice area. Why practice strafing runs on the Pacific Coast Highway over downtown Laguna?

Gentlemen, you clearly have exceeded the patience of Laguna Beach, and it’s time to find another playground. You are no longer welcome here, and our city is ready to revolt!

J.A. CAPOBIANCO

Laguna Beach