Navy Drops Its Plan to Fly Learjets Near Silver Strand

Ending years of concern among seaside residents, the Navy on Friday dropped an unpopular proposal to fly jets straight at Silver Strand Beach as a way to test its weapons defense systems.

Navy officials scrapped the plan to use low-flying planes to simulate missile strikes on a warship after the Pentagon cut money for the testing program last month, a Navy spokeswoman said.

“They were faced with having to re-prioritize, and this was one of the systems that dropped to the bottom of their list,” said Marsha Polk at the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Port Hueneme. “It’s not a priority for them at this point.”

Under the Navy’s plan, Learjets would have cruised toward a five-story radar facility at the tip of Silver Strand beach as low as 100 feet from the water’s surface at speeds of up to 375 mph.

Naval Surface Warfare Center officers first proposed the plan in 1993, alarming beach-area residents who feared the planes would create noise or, worse yet, crash into homes.

Although the Navy had scaled back its proposal in recent months in response to community criticism, residents Friday cheered the military’s decision to abandon the tests altogether.

“We obviously are extremely happy that jets won’t be targeting Channel Islands Harbor and our community,” said Bill Higgins, a 52-year-old environmental consultant who lives in Silver Strand. “It is a great relief for everyone who has worked so hard on this proposal. This is a big victory for people who enjoy the harbor and the beaches and all that makes Ventura County so precious.”

Vickie Finan, who founded the community group Beacon to organize residents against the flight proposal, said the news that the Navy had scrubbed its project came as a surprise.

“I am still kind of in shock,” Finan said. “I wasn’t expecting it when it happened. The harbor and this community won’t be a target, and this is what we wanted.”

Polk said community opposition had nothing to do with the Navy’s decision to call off the program.

“It was strictly a business decision,” she said.

The Navy will continue to use the sophisticated, $100-million radar facility to test other radar and weapons-defense systems, Polk said, adding that there will be no layoffs because of the budget cut. Polk said figures were not yet available on how much the Navy had spent developing the program.

“You could say it’s the price of doing business,” Polk said.

Supervisor John K. Flynn, who supported the Navy’s proposal, said he doubts that protests from residents killed the Navy’s plan. But Flynn said he is concerned that the widespread opposition to the project may have damaged Ventura County’s reputation as a Navy-friendly area.

“We have been a pro-Navy county and there has been a strong group in the Silver Strand beach area that has been anti this project and anti-Navy,” Flynn said. “I just hope that it doesn’t hurt the reputation that we have of being a home to the Navy.”

Last month the Navy was preparing to apply for the special airspace permit from the Federal Aviation Administration that it needed to conduct the testing.

But citing possible interference with boating and other water sports, the California Coastal Commission on April 10 rescinded its “no objections” ruling to the Navy plan.

Although the commission’s action would not have stopped the plan--the commission does not have such veto power--it could have affected the FAA’s decision to grant the special airspace permit.

The Navy later told the commission it would modify its proposal by setting up a “safe separation zone” to minimize interference with commercial and recreational boating.

The commission’s ruling had been the latest snag in the Navy’s effort to gain approval for the testing. The Navy last year had made major modifications to its plans--including using Learjets instead of fighter planes for the testing--after steady protest from the community.

Finan said many of the 6,000 beach-area residents favor having the Navy in Ventura County but had concerns about the flight testing.

“It was never, ever about the Navy,” Finan said. “It was about them using us as a target.”