El Toro Airspace Risks Detailed

The international airport proposed at the former El Toro Marine base would eventually send nearly 150 flights a day toward oncoming jets from four other airports, compounding issues of safety and raising the prospects of delays throughout the crowded skies above Southern California, documents show.

Northbound flights leaving El Toro--about a third of its flights, including the largest and heaviest jets--would be forced to pass “over, under or through” other planes’ routes in what is already one of the busiest pieces of airspace in the nation, according to the report, which was compiled by county aviation consultants.

“It’s like driving the wrong way down the freeway,” said Robert E. McGowan, the mayor of Villa Park and a retired United Airlines pilot. He is in favor of an airport at El Toro but not of the county’s version. “You can only get away with it for a couple minutes. It’s just no good.”

Ultimately, air traffic controllers say, it would take time to coordinate the flights. “Airplanes can [already] be slowed up as far away as Arizona when they are approaching Los Angeles,” said Barry Schiff, a retired TWA captain and a member of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Assn. who lives in Los Angeles.

“When you funnel aircraft into a greater number of airports you can have more complexity and a greater number of delays. It would probably just compound the problem.”

Business interests have lobbied to open a commercial airport at the El Toro base since it was targeted for closure in 1993. The campaign has divided Southern California into pro- and anti-airport factions, such as Los Angeles and Long Beach residents who want El Toro to draw traffic away from their skies, and southern Orange County residents who don’t want jet noise interrupting their lives.

The report says it would be possible to coordinate El Toro flights with others in the region. But it won’t be easy.

According to the documents, which are part of the county’s environmental impact report, planes leaving El Toro to the north would intersect with airspace used by planes headed toward and leaving Los Angeles International Airport, Long Beach Airport, John Wayne Airport and Ontario International Airport.

“Airspace interactions,” as they are known in the industry, would take place between 2,000 and 6,500 feet above an area about five to eight miles north of El Toro--just south of the intersection of the Riverside and Costa Mesa freeways.

Orange County officials contend that these conflicts are mere details that will be worked out in the planning process. They also say it’s inevitable that the airspace will become more crowded because of increased demands in passengers and commerce--whether or not an international airport is built at El Toro.

The report dismisses the potential for delays as “insignificant,” and the documents say El Toro flights would pass about 2,000 feet below flights headed toward Long Beach and about 1,000 feet below flights headed toward and leaving Los Angeles. The minimum separation permitted by the Federal Aviation Administration is three miles horizontally and 1,000 feet vertically.

That doesn’t satisfy critics such as McGowan, who compared the scenario to Douglas “Wrong Way” Corrigan--famous for his “accidental” and unauthorized flight across the Atlantic Ocean in 1938.

“This is not a safe operation,” said Kevin Van Uden, air traffic controller union representative for the FAA facility that controls planes from the Point Mugu Naval Air Station to the Mexican border.

The county’s plans also have been criticized by the Air Line Pilots Assn., the nation’s largest union of commercial pilots, and by the Allied Pilots Assn. The main concern of pilots has been that 62% of El Toro’s departures would be toward the east, over the Santa Ana Mountains. They also have protested northern departures because of airspace problems with jets and with a major private-pilot flight path over Anaheim Hills.

“You’ve got a potential three-way conflict,” said Van Uden, adding that he will recommend the union oppose the airport because of the safety and delay issues.

Even if air traffic controllers and the FAA resolve safety concerns--which many observers say is likely--it will come with a price.

Because of the additional flights introduced above Southern California, air traffic controllers will be forced to “maneuver departures” to “achieve separation,” the report says. In layman’s terms, it means some flights will have to wait for a hole in the flight routes, which could mean delays across the region.

Most delays would be at John Wayne and Long Beach airports, controllers said. Turboprop jets used by regional carriers at Los Angeles International could suffer delays because they fly at lower altitudes than airliners. Business jets and private planes also could be affected.

“My concern would not be safety, because frankly, as the FAA and air traffic control designs these routes they have very strict criteria on how they have to lay them out,” said Warren Morningstar, a vice president of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Assn. in Frederick, Md.

“It’s not the kind of thing where I would jump up and down and say that we are compromising safety. They will be safe. The question will be: What will it do to operating efficiency?”

Complicating an Already Busy Airspace

Schiff said the El Toro proposal would only tangle what is already some of the most complicated flight choreography in the country.

Though it’s tough to quantify, pilots and other industry officials already consider Southern California--after the New York-area airspace that includes the La Guardia, Kennedy, and Newark and Teeterboro airports--the busiest and complex airspace in the country.

More than 6,000 aircraft either take off from Southern California airports, land at the airports or pass over the region each day, according to the FAA. The FAA’s individual Southern California airport control towers--at Los Angeles, Van Nuys, Long Beach and John Wayne--are among the nation’s 50 busiest. The tower at Los Angeles is the nation’s fourth-busiest, after Dallas, Chicago and Atlanta.

“It’s almost a no-win situation,” Van Uden said. “We can make almost anything work. But is it the most efficient? No. We can make it safe, but then it’ll take you another 10 minutes before you can land.”

Charles V. Smith, chairman of the Board of Supervisors, said questions about the safety of El Toro’s departure routes are legitimate. The FAA also is conducting a safety evaluation, he said.

“The key is going to be the FAA,” said Smith, part of the pro-airport majority on the board. “They have the final word.”

If the FAA decides the flight paths are unsafe or should be changed, “we’ll have to make adjustments accordingly,” Smith said.

El Toro opponents also contend that safety is being jeopardized by moneyed interests determined to build the airport.

This spring, Orange County voters will weigh in on Measure F--an initiative designed to block the airport. The measure would require two-thirds approval by voters to build or expand certain jails, hazardous-waste landfills and airports near homes. County voters previously approved two initiatives allowing the airport.

Though the documents released Wednesday made safety the quibble du jour, many critics seized on the report to reiterate their belief that the debate boils down to money. McGowan said most fears could be quelled by reversing the flight path--but the county needs to use the base’s longer northern runways to get jumbo jets and international travelers in and out of the airport.

“That’s not what’s needed,” he said. “And that’s not what’s wanted. They don’t need jumbo jets. The bottom line is safety--not convenience.”

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Crowded Skies

The proposed El Toro Airport would eventually add about 150 daily flights to an already busy airspace, according to Orange County aviation consultants, casuing additional delays and raising safety concerns throughout the region.