Countywide : Controlled Airspace Extension Proposed

Seeking to improve air safety, the Federal Aviation Administration is proposing to extend the controlled airspace around Los Angeles International Airport deep into Orange County.

The agency has scheduled a series of regional public meetings to gather comments from pilots and other people interested in the proposed changes to the boundaries of the Terminal Control Area (TCA).

The meeting for Orange County is scheduled for 7 p.m. June 30 in Theater 6 at the Los Alamitos Armed Forces Reserve Center.

If approved, the new system would require pilots to obtain clearance from an air traffic controller before entering a layer of airspace between the altitudes of 7,000 and 10,000 feet over portions of Orange County as far south as Dana Point.

Currently, the southeastern TCA boundary is an arc through Huntington Beach, Garden Grove, Anaheim and Fullerton and extends generally from 6,000 feet to 12,500 feet.

Pilots must obtain a clearance from an air traffic controller before entering a TCA.

FAA airspace specialist Tom Bowman said the changes would make the boundaries conform more to the routes that commercial jetliners actually follow and create a protective envelope around them.

Although the changes would create additional space above and below the TCA for small aircraft, Bowman said, owners of private plane might object to the proposal because air traffic controllers frequently are too busy to issue clearances to small aircraft in a timely manner.

Bowman described the FAA’s proposal as merely a “starting point to get a conversation going” with interested parties.

The plan is likely to be modified significantly before final adoption, Bowman said, which could take six months to a year or more.