Listening to Pilots on El Toro Issue

* The Air Line Pilots Assn. is recommending two new runways for the proposed El Toro airport (July 4). The association has consistently maintained that the present runway configuration at El Toro is unsafe for many takeoffs and landings.

County officials have consistently tried to downplay the danger and ignore concerns of residents and pilots alike in an effort to keep the residents of north Orange County on their side.

Courtney Wiercioch, the county’s El Toro project manager, states, “The pilots’ ideas don’t take into account how the communities would be affected.” The communities affected would be primarily in north Orange County!

The supporters of the El Toro airport are fooling themselves if they actually believe that those new runways would never be built.

STEVE GICK

Lake Forest

* We ask that you please not disregard the latest conclusions from the pilots association concerning the danger in takeoffs from the proposed El Toro airport. There is no sane reason to downplay or hide inside less read newspaper sections what the pilots are saying.

Millions of dollars were recently spent on the development and upgrade of John Wayne Airport and now we are asked to go along with the El Toro plan.

This is a completely corrupt process. It is the same mentality that caused the bankruptcy in Orange County. We are led by these easily corrupted public officials who knowingly hide and spin matters the way they want it.

EDGAR J. TOWERS

Mission Viejo

* I am amused over the controversy regarding the noise at John Wayne Airport and the proposed new airport in El Toro.

For several years, I lived under the approach flight path for the Long Beach airport. During those years, I found the melodic whine of the jet engines very restful and comforting. I had even noticed my cat began to purr when planes flew close over my house.

I think that when the El Toro airport is opened, residents nearby will begin to notice these same benefits.

CARMEN L. GILLIAM

Huntington Beach

* If El Toro is converted into a civilian airport, the design should be as safe as it can be made. This requires takeoffs either to the west or to the northwest.

If the residents of Orange County are unwilling to suffer the noise pollution and the $10-billion to $15-billion price that such a safe airport would probably entail, then it should not be built.

RONALD D. STEINBACH

Irvine