FAA Jet Gets Lowdown on El Toro Again

A leased Lear jet made seven approaches over the shuttered El Toro Marine base Wednesday as federal officials continued testing Orange County’s plans to turn the facility into a commercial airport.

The jet pilot flew into the retired base using readings taken from global positioning satellites, said Jerry Snyder, an FAA spokesman in Los Angeles. There currently is no landing system at the base, which closed in July 1999.

“They collected the data they needed,” Snyder said.

The satellites were used to test readings at several elevations. The information will be used for computer simulations in an analysis for the Federal Aviation Administration of proposed operations at El Toro by larger commercial jets.

While the Lear jet used in the testing is a relatively small eight-seater, FAA officials said the craft is more than adequate for the testing.

The Lear jet approached from the south over Laguna Woods, as well as over Irvine to simulate landings on one of the base’s east-west runways. The county’s plans call for most of the planes to land from the south, with some planes landing from the west during Santa Ana wind conditions.

Anti-airport representative Tom O’Malley said the Lear jet made several left-hand turns after taking off to the north. The county has said planes will take off straight to the north from the airport.

However, the left-hand turn is a controversial procedure that may be required for larger, heavier jets to avoid hills and the flight paths of other jets.

The FAA will have the ultimate say on whether a commercial airport can be built at the old base.