Orange County Voices : COMMENTARY ON JOHN WAYNE AIRPORT : One-of-a-Kind Noise-Abatement Policy Flies in Face of Safety : Airline pilots are uneasy with complicated procedures that are not in effect anywhere else. They leave no margin for error or the unforeseen.

As an airline pilot who is very familiar with John Wayne Airport in Orange County, I was intrigued by the recent excellent articles in The Times on noise-abatement procedures in force there and at other airports.

Any airline pilot must feel secure in his own ability and be confident of the planes he flies. If we’re not comfortable with what we are doing, we obviously don’t feel safe. And let me tell you, we’re not comfortable at John Wayne Airport!

What are the causes of our discomfort there? Well, for starters, it has one of the shortest runways in the country for airline traffic. It’s located in a highly metropolitan area. It’s one of the busiest general aviation airports in the United States, which means lots of small planes mixed in with our large ones.

But the real kicker is that John Wayne Airport has designed its own unique noise-abatement procedures, which are different from any other in the country. In other words, although many airports have short runways, are located in cities and have light aircraft, we have to perform flying procedures at John Wayne Airport that are different from any we do anywhere else.

Airline pilots fly into lots of different airports; it’s entirely possible that a pilot might land at John Wayne Airport only once in a year. So the danger of having one-of-a-kind procedures is intensified by such infrequency. Pilots have long pushed for a national noise-abatement policy to avoid having this danger multiplied at airports throughout the country.

One part of the policy that is unique to John Wayne Airport is its categorization of aircraft by noise that is contrary to accepted federal noise categories. The Federal Aviation Administration has divided aircraft into three categories according to the noise generated by the different aircraft. The quietest is Category III. John Wayne has gone beyond the federal regulations and created three sub-categories of Category III aircraft. The airport allows airlines to use its facilities according to how well the pilots can modify the noise level of their airplanes. This is a particularly insidious restriction that causes pilots to compete with each other to fly more quietly in order to keep landing rights for their particular airline. Any such pressure on pilots reduces the margins of safety.

Flying airplanes is like any human endeavor--we need to leave a little room in case things aren’t exactly perfect. At Orange County we have no margin. As long as everything goes perfectly, the procedures work fine. But we’re uncomfortable flying without any margin for error.

The takeoff procedures at John Wayne Airport are so complicated that we’re forced to look at our instruments and can’t look outside! And with the sharp degree of ascent required at takeoff, we have trouble seeing other airplanes even under the best conditions. Remember. this is an airport with many small aircraft, and the only protection from a midair collision is the ability of the pilots to see and avoid each other.

In addition, we must use the total capability of the plane to reduce noise, leaving no room for any mechanical problems--and problems will occur even with the best of equipment. We have no margin for problems like flying through jet wash of another aircraft, or for bird strikes, or wind shear, or for any of the other incidents that can precipitate an accident.

The federal government has approved these procedures, but they’ve been approved in a piecemeal fashion over the past 10 years, without a real understanding of where the program was going. The industry as a whole is currently reviewing the entire question of noise-abatement procedures. So now we find ourselves in a position where everyone is uncomfortable, not just the pilots.

When pilots encounter a potential safety problem, they can file safety reports with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Many pilots have used the NASA system to complain about the operations at John Wayne Airport. The volume of these reports clearly shows that the pilot community feels that John Wayne Airport is a problem area.

One point often overlooked in the debates over noise is that airline pilots, more than anyone else, are affected by aircraft noise. With the schedules we fly, we often live for days at a time right at the airports. We sleep at hotels as close to the airport as our companies can find them. (Mine always seem to be right under the flight path of the active runway.) So we’re happy to see newer, quieter planes. And we endorse safe, effective noise-abatement procedures. We’ll do whatever we can to be the best possible neighbors, but our chief responsibility is the safety of the passengers who ride in our aircraft.

We want to solve the problem of noise by having uniform takeoff procedures that have been designed to strike the best balance between safety and noise relief. And, we want these procedures in place as soon as possible.

The design of such procedures must be based on safety, not politics. Safe flying is not a matter of political compromise. It must be based on solid knowledge, such as pilots have acquired from thousands of hours of flying experience.

If we wait for an accident to happen before we change the procedures, we’ve waited too long.