An Ideal Testing Ground for New Rule : * John Wayne Airport a Logical Place to Try Out FAA’s Limit on Jet Power Cutbacks

The very public concerns expressed by pilots nervous about a requirement that they cut power on takeoff from John Wayne Airport have prompted gasps in the passenger cabin and beyond. The stipulation, part of a settlement reached by parties to a noise abatement agreement in Orange County, has caused enough of a furor that the Federal Aviation Administration is now expected to ban power cutbacks below 800 feet nationwide later this year.

Since the Orange County airport is the only major one nationally that requires cutbacks at a lower altitude--500 feet--it makes sense that the new 800-foot requirement be tested first in these skies. There are, after all, those homeowners in Santa Ana Heights, right at the end of the runway, who will now live with an additional 300 feet of loud jetliner acceleration before those engines cut power.

Part of the benefit of having the test period is that 14 noise sensors stationed along the flight path will record the results of the delayed cutbacks. Having this data before a permanent 800-foot requirement is put in place is much preferable to simply changing the power cutoff altitude by fiat. If the FAA wants to mandate a different altitude requirement for the cutoff of power, at least information will be available to measure against any claims of residents who were parties to the original locally designed agreement.

The issue of safety on takeoff is paramount, and it is the rationale for any decision to entertain a higher altitude requirement. The fact that the FAA is considering the sweeping mandate at all lends credence to the complaints of the pilots, who have said that reducing power at 500 feet to reduce noise can be dangerous under certain circumstances.

But there also is a local control issue here. The city of Newport Beach, the homeowners, the environmental groups, the airport and the courts demonstrated the efficacy of local problem-solving by ending years of litigation with their agreement. If the federal government is going to supersede a local compact, albeit with the agreement of the parties, it also may have to be prepared to help resolve any new problems. It is possible, for example, that some homeowners will have to be bought out if state health standards are exceeded in the flight path. Parties to the 1985 settlement are reviewing the agreement after informally agreeing to it. The five-month test period that will follow is a sensible way to approach this important change.