Test Flights for El Toro

There are few aspects of the debate over the future of the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station where partisans agree. One of them seems to be that simulating actual operating conditions for a commercial airport through test flights would contribute significantly to public understanding of this complicated issue.

Last month, the county said it was planning to stage several days of passenger and cargo jet flights, at an estimated cost of $2 million, to be conducted sometime in the fall. Two million dollars is a lot of money, but there is also a compelling interest in having some kind of tests conducted.

The important thing is that they be done in a credible way at reasonable cost. For Orange County, five years into the contentious debate over the future of the base, the stakes are high. With an airport now firmly on the planning track, the county needs information that is reliable and helpful.

Courtney Wiercioch, the county’s El Toro planning manager, has suggested that there was enough reliable data on departure and arrival patterns available at this point in the process--as well as the types of jets to be used--to come up with something meaningful. Airport foes, while agreeing that good demonstrations would be helpful, have voiced skepticism about the reliability of county noise data. But there has been some receptivity to the idea of tests, too. For example, in an Orange County Voices article a year ago, Karen Byers and Allan Ellstrand of the anti-airport group Project ’99 argued that real measurements also would “enable us to glean qualitative, on-the-ground information from thousands of residents throughout Orange County.”

If it works for all sides and is reliable, well and good. Obviously, the trick will be to conduct tests in a way that does all of the following: simulates the number of flights with the kinds of aircraft likely to be used throughout the day and night; uses proposed takeoff and landing directions and those that might be necessary in different wind conditions; and duplicates actual night conditions with passengers and cargo.

Also, obviously, some independent way of verifying these data will be needed. Enlisting the Federal Aviation Administration, and the military in insuring the accuracy of these tests would be advisable.

Whatever precautions are taken, stand by for the “spin” that inevitably will issue from the various camps of pro and anti-airport partisans. But taking good precautions can mean that planners and the general public get something out of these tests. If so, that can be money well spent.