June Test Flights at El Toro Base Still Up in Air

Officials hope to fly several airliners from El Toro runways in June to demonstrate how loud flights might be from a new commercial airport planned for the base.

Orange County supervisors will decide March 30 whether to grant final approval for several test flights on the first or second weekend of June. The county would pay for the two-day flights by Boeing 737-400, 737-300 and 767 aircraft, as well as a McDonnell-Douglas MD80 and Airbus A300.

County planners would install eight noise monitors along the departure and arrival paths to track the noise. Initial studies showed the most noise from the airport would be generated in Laguna Woods, which sits just to the south of the runways that would be used by arriving jets.

Average noise levels have been estimated, and figures on the probable loudness of individual jets is expected to be released by county officials in April.

The noise tests are expected to cost from $2 million to $3 million. Final estimates will be submitted in 45 days.

Supervisors approved the tests in January as a way of showing residents near the airport how much noise might be generated by aircraft on arrival and takeoff.

But South County airport foes argue that the tests will not be valid because the planes will not be as heavy as if filled with passengers and that the test cannot simulate the effect of flights estimated to take off or arrive on an average of every five minutes. They also argue that the quietest planes would be used instead of louder aircraft such as the wide-body Boeing 747.

The flights have been approved in concept by the Marine Corps, which will close the base in July. County supervisors are planning to convert the base to an international airport that would serve as many as 28.8 million passengers by 2020. The first phase of the airport is expected to be opened in 2005 to serve 9 million passengers a year.