Safety Proposal Could Affect O.C. Flights

An advisory body studying the safety of airport noise-control policies has recommended to the FAA changes in airline takeoff procedures that could drastically affect noise standards and departure slots awarded to airlines at John Wayne Airport.

The proposal, which has national implications, would forbid commercial pilots from reducing engine power at altitudes lower than 800 feet during takeoff--a recommendation that flight crews say would improve safety.

Locally, it would affect a 500-foot power cutback instituted at John Wayne to accommodate certain aircraft, such as the MD-80, which is the noisiest jetliner currently allowed to fly out of Orange County. Airport and airline officials said it was too early to know if MD-80s or any other aircraft would violate airport noise regulations with a power cutback at 800 feet.

Several airlines at John Wayne fly the MD-80, including Alaska, American and Continental. Other aircraft could also be affected, airport officials said, because they are allocated departure slots based on noise levels.

For example, the Boeing 737-300 currently qualifies as a Class E aircraft, which means it is quiet enough to fly virtually unregulated. But it might not fit into that category if power cannot be reduced at 500 feet.

“The list of questions we need answers to is very long,” said airport spokeswoman Courtney Wiercioch. “We don’t want to involve ourselves in safety regulations because that’s under the authority of the FAA,” she said. “But we’ve told them that we want to be informed at each step in case we have to make adjustments.”

Newport Beach officials, who must deal with noise complaints from residents living under the departure path, said they would monitor the situation closely. The city is party to an airport-noise court settlement that laid the foundation for the current expansion of John Wayne Airport. They said any change in noise levels might force the city to reopen the court case.

“Would the City Council be upset? Yes, it would upset the city,” said Newport Beach Councilman Clarence J. Turner, an airport activist.

Several airports around the country, including John Wayne Airport, have allowed power cutbacks on takeoff to help cut noise over nearby residential areas. Washington’s National Airport, for example, has power cutbacks at various altitudes depending on aircraft type.

FAA officials said they want to halt the proliferation of such non-standard regulations. Pilots have lobbied for such action for years, saying it’s needed to ease pilot training and improve retention of information more critical to safe takeoffs, especially since the same pilot may visit three or four airports in a single day, each with different rules.

Power reductions at low altitude also has been the source of numerous Federal Aviation Administration complaints that the procedure has compromised safety for the sake of controlling noise. According to the National Transportation Safety Board, engine failures have occurred during power cutbacks, hence, pilots say, any increase in altitude would give them more time to react to an emergency.

Anthony J. Broderick, FAA associate administrator for regulation and certification, said he convened a group of pilots and FAA safety officials last summer to study the issue and has received a recommendation.

He acknowledged that FAA Administrator James B. Bussey became personally involved in the issue after Bussey flew an “evaluation” flight out of John Wayne aboard a Delta Airlines Boeing 757 last year and concurred with Broderick’s desire to review power cutbacks generally.

Broderick declined to characterize Bussey’s comments after the flight, but other FAA sources said Bussey was alarmed by what he had seen. Broderick said the FAA advisory panel was convened before Bussey’s flight out of Orange County.

“Of course we’re concerned about inconvenience to anybody, but our first concern has to be safety, and that’s what my motive is,” Broderick said.

Airport officials said they met with Broderick last week in Washington to discuss the power cutback debate. Broderick insisted that no action will be taken for at least several months, after he has reviewed the matter and after public comment is solicited on any proposed changes.

Meanwhile, pilots applauded the FAA’s willingness to review the matter.

“I’d like it (the cutback) to be higher,” said Richard Deeds of San Jose, chairman of the Air Line Pilots Assn. Noise Abatement Committee. “But I think 800 feet will help us a great deal.”

Deeds, who is participating on the panel advising the FAA, said the group has met several times and conducted studies throughout the country, some employing aircraft simulators.

“Our concern was finding what is the minimum safe altitude . . . today’s aircraft are so dynamic that they reach 1,000 feet in under 12 seconds, and a lot happens during that time. We just need to give the crew time to catch up.”

It is unclear what effect an 800-foot power cutback would have on the Santa Ana Heights neighborhood, located at the end of the runway, across the Corona del Mar Freeway from the airport. City and county officials said noise might be reduced for residents further down Newport Bay, at the expense of Santa Ana Heights residents.

But others weren’t sure.

Even Edwin C. Hall, a Santa Ana Heights resident, said there may be little or no change in noise levels because the existing power cutbacks don’t occur until a jetliner has already passed over most of Santa Ana Heights and has reached a noise monitoring station near the extreme southern end of the neighborhood.