Light-Plane Traffic Over Orange and L.A. Counties

I was encouraged and somewhat chagrined in reading recent stories of the verbal clash between Buena Park civic officials and the Fullerton Municipal Airport. I believe that what is needed is a series of public hearings at which arguments on both sides could be raised and modified by information that doesn’t reach the press because it doesn’t make news.

While three plane crashes in 1989 are nothing to sneer at, the possibility of a much greater crash rate is strengthened by what actually goes on in the air lanes above Buena Park. You have to live near the airport to recognize the scope of the air traffic problem. It’s not only a matter of planes flying at low altitudes before landing or taking off. What complicates the situation is the simple fact that just about everyone is using the air lanes above Buena Park and the airport.

I take regular walks in my neighborhood. At such times it is easy for me to see a whole squadron of military helicopters fly over the airport from El Toro, at the same time that a few police helicopters might be doing the same thing. It would seem to me that any private pilot seeking to land at Fullerton Municipal at such a time would have to seek a lower approach to do so to avoid striking one of the many helicopters. Occasionally, on my evening strolls I can see this actually happen. The planes have to come down low to avoid the air congestion.

I have, on occasion, seen large military transports and bombers fly over my house at startlingly low altitudes--as if their pilots really didn’t know where they were going to land.

SHELDON J. KARLAN

Buena Park