New Safety Zone Works on 1st Day for Wayne Airport
A new air safety zone around John Wayne Airport worked well in its first day of operation Thursday, air traffic controllers said.
The Airport Radar Service Area zone was established to reduce the risk of midair collisions within a five-mile radius of the airfield, the fifth-busiest in the United States. Under ARSA rules, a pilot must establish two-way radio communication with an air traffic controller before entering the restricted airspace.
The first day under the rules “was super,” said Jim Panter, manager of Coast Terminal Radar Control (TRACON) in El Toro. “But I don’t know if today was a fair test because we had fog this morning and traffic has been very light.”
Panter said pilots were not delayed by overworked controllers, as had been feared by the Orange County Airport Assn., an influential group of private and commercial pilots. “The pilots were very accepting of it today,” he said. “We did not get any complaints.”
Panter said controversy about the new zone quieted after the Federal Aviation Administration conducted a briefing for about 1,100 pilots Tuesday night at Orange Coast College.
“They just wanted to know what procedures to follow,” Panter said.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
