Captain Sanders, who is a Safety Committee member of the Allied Pilots Association, stated that American Airlines top management considers Runway 7 to the east to be "undesirable for a primary takeoff runway", as planned by the county. The American Airlines letter confirms Sanders' statement. Mr. Baker also repeated American's position that John Wayne and El Toro can not both operate together as commercial airports in Orange County.
Mr. Leonard Kranser
The El Toro Airport Info Site
75 Monarch Bay Drive
Dana Point, CA 92629
Dear Mr. Kranser:
Let's see if we can't amplify somewhat on Captain Sanders testimony before the Orange County Board of Supervisors regarding El Toro. It is my understanding that for noise reduction purposes, Runway 7 is preferred by some of the parties engaged in the debate about the suitability of El Toro Airport as a commercial airport. More than a year ago you asked for American's assessment of Runway 7 for commercial operations. From a theoretical perspective, Runway 7 can be used for most scheduled services departing El Toro. The combination of rising terrain and predominant tail wind will restrict the use of this runway both in terms of certain periods of time when the tail winds exceed allowable levels and for aircraft that are on the heavy side due to the rising terrain. A detailed study would have to be undertaken to quantify the frequency and intensity of these restrictions.
So the answer to the question can we use Runway 7 is yes under some circumstances outlined above. However, Runway 7 with a tail wind component and rising terrain will never be considered desirable or preferable from an airline or pilots point of view. Whenever possible we want to operate into the wind, without rising terrain in the vicinity of the runway end. Therefore, you can fully expect most pilots to reject the offer of Runway 7. I do not think that you should consider Runway 7 as the primary runway at El Toro.
Let me touch on one additional aspect of El Toro. We strongly believe that there can only be one commercial airport servicing the Orange County market. It is unrealistic to anticipate that the airlines would be willing to operate split operations at Orange County and El Toro. This represents an undesirable fragmentation of the market and operational ineff iciencies.
I hope that this useful in clarifying my position.
Sincerely,
R. W. Baker
cc: Captain S. Sanders
Click here for previous correspondence from American Airlines
Click here for more on why Two Airports
in Orange County Won't Work
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