Pilot’s Take on Takeoffs

Flying out of Orange County’s John Wayne Airport is a memorable experience, especially for the uninitiated.

“I’ve heard it described as somewhat like a roller coaster ride,” said United Airlines pilot Todd Thornton, who has flown passengers in and out of John Wayne since 1989.

“You do raise the nose up quite a bit, so that the climb angle is quite a bit steeper than normal. The sound of the engines throttling back slightly also might be of concern to the passengers.”

Thornton, a 38-year-old Laguna Beach resident who learned to fly as a teenager in a single-engine Cessna at John Wayne Airport, always makes a brief announcement to passengers before taking off.

“We say, ‘Welcome aboard. If you haven’t flown out of John Wayne before, you should know that we do what’s called a noise abatement takeoff, to be a good neighbor to the surrounding communities.’ We prep them so it won’t be a total surprise.”

Because the noise regulations at John Wayne are among the most stringent of any airport in the country, pilots must take off at a steep angle. The idea is to quickly gain altitude before cutting back on engine speed, which in turn quiets the aircraft somewhat as it flies over Newport Beach and surrounding communities.

In 1993, new Federal Aviation Administration regulations gave pilots a longer full-power climb out of John Wayne, increasing the altitude at which they are required to throttle back from 500 to 800 feet. But the ascent is still regarded as especially demanding on man and machine.

“The first time you do it, it is challenging. When you power back on the engines, if you were to lose an engine at that point, you’d have to do some things quite rapidly to make sure you didn’t lose control of the airplane. The margin of safety has been lowered, but I would not consider it an unsafe procedure.”

Most of Thornton’s concerns about safety, during his off hours, are focused on the proposed commercial airport at the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station. He has been making the rounds of various community groups for two years, trying to convince residents that the county’s proposed takeoff patterns won’t fly with most professional pilots.

“They are proposing that 70% of the airliners are going to take off to the east, which has a predominant tail wind, which has an extreme upsloping runway, and it also points you right at the rising terrain of the Santa Ana Mountains,” said Thornton, a former Air Force pilot who returned to active duty to fly giant C-141 cargo planes during Operation Desert Storm. He now flies Boeing 757s.

Taking off with a tail wind makes it harder for the airplane to lift off the ground, Thornton explained, a problem compounded by an uphill runway.

“Common sense will tell you that accelerating an airliner uphill is more difficult. You take all three of those factors together and it’s just an unacceptable situation. Pilots are ultimately in charge of their airplanes--they’re not going to take off in that direction. They’re going to want to take off on a different runway.”

With a majority of south Orange County residents opposed to an international airport at El Toro, Thornton said, he soon realized the proposed runway flight patterns were designed to reassure Central County residents they would be spared from airplane noise. He is one of about a dozen professional pilots who have formed the El Toro Pilot Committee to speak out against the proposed runway flight patterns. The plan has also been criticized by representatives of the Air Line Pilots Assn. and the Allied Pilots Assn., the nation’s two commercial pilot unions.

“The motivation by the county is to duplicate the Marine Corps flight patterns. The Marines have been flying that way for a number of years, and the county’s residential housing has been built around those patterns.

“If they want to use that airport realistically, they would take off not to the east, but to the west. Then it would be a downhill runway with a predominant head wind, which is a good thing for airliners, and the Santa Ana Mountains would not be in the way. Unfortunately, that would go out over the city of Irvine. But that would be a very usable runway, from an airline pilot’s standpoint.”

County airport planners also are considering takeoff patterns that would send planes directly over the Santa Ana Mountains, to reduce noise over central Orange County communities from northerly flights.

“That’s almost even more ridiculous, because there’s rising terrain on those north runways,” Thornton said. “Planes do not take off based on political concerns, they take off based on the winds, the terrain, the runways--that kind of thing.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Profile: Todd Thornton

Age: 38

Hometown and residence: Laguna Beach

Family: Wife, Darcy; two young daughters

Education: Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, UC Irvine; commissioned as 2nd lieutenant after graduating first in his class from U.S. Air Force Officer Training School, San Antonio, Texas

In the air: Began flying lessons at age 19 at John Wayne Airport; Pilot Training School at Laughlin Air Force Base, Texas, 1982-83; C-141 cargo plane flight training at Altus Air Force Base, Oklahoma, 1983-84; flew C-141 cargo planes and C-21 Lear jets with the 14th Military Airlift Squadron at Norton Air Force Base, San Bernardino County, 1984-89; commercial airline pilot for U.S. Airways, 1989-91; called to active duty from Air Force reserves to fly cargo to Saudi Arabia during Operation Desert Storm, 1991-92; commercial airline pilot for United Airlines since 1992

Why Fly?: “You just get the flying bug, just being at the airport, the atmosphere, anticipating what the next flight will bring. It’s always an adventure. It’s hard to describe if you don’t have it. I don’t dread going in to work.”

Source: Todd Thornton; Researched by RUSS LOAR / For The Times