El Toro Reverberating Still

* During the past year I have been bombarded by the county’s propaganda machine telling me that I will not be impacted by the planned airport at El Toro. Furthermore, county-paid noise consultant Vince Mestre has stated that I might even experience less noise from the commercial airport than with the military operations.

Well, if the test flights that occurred [June 4 and 5] are any indication of the noise levels to be anticipated, the county’s noise consultant is deaf.

My children attend Top of the World Elementary School in Laguna Beach, which is situated at 1,000 feet above sea level and right adjacent to the arrival path that the jets used. I stood at the school and was horrified by the level of noise. I don’t see how school could be taught under the flight path.

Why wasn’t there any noise monitoring equipment placed at the school? Did the noise consultant not realize that Top of the World sits at 1,000 feet above sea level?

I wish that those in favor of this project would have taken the time to sit up at the school and listen for themselves, then picture their children trying to get an education amid the roaring of jets.

A vote for the airport is a vote against our children.

MIKE HARDY

Laguna Beach

* I am writing this letter to express my fear and concern about the El Toro airport.

During the demonstration on June 4, the noise level at my home was horrible, and I fear that if the airport goes in I will have to move.

Furthermore, I fear that with the El Toro airport making noise, I would only be able to sell my house for a fraction of what I paid for it. My entire life savings is in the equity of my home, and if the airport goes in I will lose everything I own.

Please don’t put in the El Toro airport.

ED PAULVIR

Laguna Niguel

* Myth 1: The Orange County supervisors and big land developers are trying to ram an airport onto the people of Orange County. Fact: The people of Orange County (including 35% of the voters in south Orange County) have spoken in two valid and sanctioned elections by voting to convert the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station into a commercial airport. This may be a hard and bitter pill for some organizations to swallow, but facts are facts are facts.

Myth 2. Homes in south Orange County will lose considerable value when the El Toro airport becomes operational. Fact: Over the past 10 years, the homes in south Orange County, including the ones directly in the flying path of the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station and John Wayne Airport, have increased significantly in value. There is not a shred of evidence that any homes in the aforementioned areas have lost value due to the existence of an airport.

Myth 3. Excessive noise and pollution levels will be created with the development of a commercial airport at El Toro. Fact: Military aircraft are not subject to noise and pollution abatement laws; however, commercial aircraft are, in fact, less noisy and less polluting. The development and implementation of strict standards and necessary operational restrictions can and will make the El Toro International Airport fully compliant with all county, state and federal laws governing these areas of concern.

Myth 4: The only jobs that can be created at the El Toro International Airport are baggage handlers and warehouse workers. Fact: Major airports create very technical, high-paying jobs such as pilots, computer specialists and analysts, air traffic controllers, mechanics, administrative, management and supervisory personnel and, of course, baggage handlers, warehouse personnel, cooks, and other vital support services personnel.

Myth 5: Crime will be rampant and the area around El Toro International Airport will quickly deteriorate. Fact: The John Wayne Airport has been operational for well over 10 years and the area has not deteriorated. There is, in fact, a low incidence of crime in the general area bounded by the airport. Quite the contrary has occurred--the area has attracted a large number of high-tech employers, hotels and an excellent base for tourism, trade and jobs.

ROGER GARCIA

Laguna Hills

* Living under the JWA flight path in Newport Beach, I was curious to know how the airplanes from El Toro over South County would compare to what I hear on a daily basis! The county provided a way to know--the noise tests! I went to the actual sites that were equipped with monitoring equipment. There was no comparison. I am considerably more affected by noise than South County residents will be. Even if they experience twice as many flights, the bottom line is that the noise level is much less!

L. ROOT

Newport Beach

* Having spent the majority of my adult life flying aircraft in the military, most of it in heavy aircraft, KC-135, KC-10 and B-52, I find it very interesting when individuals who have little or no experience in flying try to tell others how it will be done.

The county supervisors and others seem to think they can dictate to a pilot how he will conduct his business. There is not a pilot in the world who will endanger himself or others by launching a fully laden aircraft downwind and up a gradient just because some supervisor or airport spokeswoman says that’s the way it’s going to be.

Those who are supporting such nonsense would be the first to hang the pilot who attempted such a takeoff and it failed. Pilots are the final authority when it comes to safety! The reason that the recent “test” was delayed was because the pilots involved told those “powers that be” that they wouldn’t risk landing or taking off downwind, and that was under fairly moderate circumstances. El Toro, in the winter and spring, has reasonable temperatures; however, when the real heat hits that airdrome, it’s as hot as it can get in this country.

Takeoffs on all aircraft are calculated with the possible loss of an engine on takeoff, and on a hot day (anything over 85 degrees), with a fully loaded aircraft, the possibility of a takeoff downwind is a preposterous request and well above the limits allowed by the tech manual of any aircraft. Pilots will laugh at the first person who suggests they try it. Takeoffs will occur most often to the west and the south as that is the prevailing wind throughout this county. No one in powerful Newport Beach has ever been able to turn around the active runway to take off downwind at John Wayne.

Furthermore, it’s very likely that during the hot summer months, the only aircraft taking off from El Toro will be those on a “short haul,” as takeoff limitations will not allow most aircraft to launch with any sort of fuel or passenger load. Anything that corresponds to a cross-country nonstop or international flight will have to wait until the late evening or early morning hours.

ALAN DUGARD

Colonel, USAF (retired)

Irvine

* There have been so very many letters written for and against an El Toro airport that it is amazing to me how many considerations have been overlooked, in particular by the anti-airport crowd.

First, their paramount synthetic argument is one of “safety.” While they pretend to be “concerned” for the safety of airline passengers who might run into a hilltop, in fact they simultaneously argue for massive expansion of John Wayne Airport. Such proposed expansion belies NIMBY’s “safety” pretexts, and the “traffic, noise, and pollution” “concerns” as well. A single, short (5,700-foot) commercial runway is anything but safe.

Second, each and every one of their specious arguments against the airport, and most particularly the pretense of “concern” for cost, falls flat on its face in view of the fact that these NIMBYs said and did almost nothing prior to the two elections which ratified El Toro, in 1994 and 1996. That was the time to make their feelings known, and defeat it at the polls. This they clearly failed to do, and it is their own fault. They are, in the words of their very own NIMBY leader, Larry Agran, Johnny-come-latelies.

Finally, how objective and honest do you think people are when you can tell their position by the city they live in? Answer: They are not.

JOHN JAEGER

Irvine

* I am constantly bemused by the concern of Leisure World over the potential development of an international airport at El Toro.

Having opted for a privileged lifestyle in a virtual nirvana, the population now seeks a further element of control, this time over air space.

Surely, this stalwart group of survivors of a Great Depression as well as a world war have experienced the full of life’s vicissitudes, the least of which is aeronautical noise.

Please enjoy the idyllic lifestyle few will ever experience and spend your well-earned retirement in self-satisfaction rather than pernicious dispute with inevitable progress.

NANCY J. MARCH

Villa Park

* No early morning flights. Voice mail conveniently overflowing. Takeoffs in the least likely direction. Half-empty aircraft, flying higher than normal.

During the “flight demo” I was at Aliso Niguel High School, which is supposedly unaffected by the sound of the jets, according to Courtney Wiercioch. Well, this is one more example of the blatant misrepresentations that are being made by the county! I needed earplugs.

How dare the Three Supervisors lie and conceal the facts from South County taxpayers. They must think we are idiots. We are not. We are mad as hell and we’re not going to take it anymore. I hope George Argyros goes broke financing this fight against us!

DANIEL HILE

Laguna Niguel

* Oops. Did the pro-airport supporters ever realize how revealing the noise tests could be? I have never seen such a groundswell of opposition to the airport since those planes roared in and out of El Toro.

If you want a sense of the passion of anti-airport sentiment, just observe the words and actions of the Newport Beach politicos. The rationalization and justification of this multibillion-dollar boondoggle indicate how desperate they are to get the airplanes out of their neighborhood and into South County.

DOUGLAS JACKSON

Coto de Caza