Test Flight to Be Conducted at El Toro
A leased Lear jet will fly a series of patterns around the closed El Toro Marine base Friday to determine if repairs to a navigational aid at the airfield were successful.
Jerry Snyder, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration, said the jet will not land at El Toro during the test, conducted by the FAA’s avionics division.
The test flight is not related to an FAA airspace study of El Toro that is expected to be released soon, Snyder said.
The long-awaited study will analyze the county’s plans for configuring runways and takeoff and landing patterns at the planned airport.
An earlier draft study by an FAA consultant concluded that the county’s plan for northern takeoffs wouldn’t work because the airspace is too saturated with aircraft flying in and around John Wayne, Long Beach International and Los Angeles International airports.
Both major airline pilots groups have criticized the county’s plans for El Toro as unworkable and unsafe. But an FAA official wrote the county last year that it could be operated safely.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
