Pilots Urge a Different Approach at El Toro

The nation’s largest union of airline pilots has announced that it supports a radically different plan for landings and takeoffs for the proposed El Toro airport than that envisioned by Orange County supervisors.

In a statement issued Tuesday--even as supervisors were preparing to vote on El Toro--the Air Line Pilots Assn. urged adoption of the V-Plan, which would reverse the county’s proposed takeoff and landing paths. Supporters hope to get the plan on a ballot next year.

The union said the V-Plan, developed by retired aerospace engineer Charles Griffin of Newport Beach, would be safer and more efficient in Southern California’s crowded skies. It would send departing jets from El Toro to the southwest over undeveloped land toward Crystal Cove State Park, with planes landing from the north.

The fate of El Toro has polarized Orange County into camps either supporting or opposing the airport. But the pilots represent a powerful third voice not aligned with either side, though their criticisms of the county’s plan have been touted by airport opponents.

Supervisors on Tuesday narrowly approved an environmental review of the county’s proposal, which dismisses the V-Plan among several El Toro options. County officials have refused to seriously study the proposal, introduced in 1999, claiming that takeoffs to the southwest could create noise over homes planned by the Irvine Co.

The union, which represents 66,000 airline pilots, has opposed the county’s airport design for years but has never endorsed a rival plan. The union supports construction of an airfield at the former Marine base, just not the one the county wants to build.

That union and the Allied Pilots Assn., which represents 11,700 American Airlines pilots, have argued that the county’s proposed takeoff paths to the north and east would endanger them and passengers. Pilots would be forced to fly toward hills with unfavorable wind conditions, they said.

“The way Orange County has written its plan dooms the airport to almost certain failure,” said the statement by the Air Line Pilots Assn. It was issued from the union’s national headquarters in Virginia.

Nevertheless, the county plan was approved Tuesday on a vote by Supervisors Chuck Smith and Jim Silva and board Chairwoman Cynthia P. Coad. Supervisors Todd Spitzer and Tom Wilson, who represent areas of the south county opposed to the airport, voted no.

The union’s position comes a week after the Federal Aviation Administration raised some of the same safety concerns. In its airspace study, the FAA noted that the county’s proposed aircraft flow is opposite that of every airport in Southern California.

However, the FAA said the airport could operate safely as long as pilots could use other runways under certain weather conditions. Flights heading to John Wayne and Long Beach airports also would have to be delayed--as long as 15 minutes each--for each El Toro takeoff.