Printed with the permission of the OC Metro
Orange County's Business Lifestyle Magazine . July 29, 1999

In what direction will jets launch at El Toro international? The county maintains that the proposed airport will operate with planes landing from the Pacific Ocean over Aliso Viejo and Laguna Woods and taking off to the north (by Northwood) and east toward Mission Viejo and Saddleback Mountain. However, safety questions about these two takeoff patterns have been raised by two airlines pilots unions, a senior American Airlines official and South County critics. At the same time, the county maintains that a commercial airport at El Toro will not use the west runway that aims directly over Irvine. In June, during the county's noise demonstration tests, no jets took off on west runway 25.

The county's P & A Aviation says, "The use of runway 25 was reviewed in the planning process during the preparation of the Community Reuse Plan. It was decided that use of runway 25 was not required, and thus the use of runway 25 is not planned."

Yet opponents and many pilots say that the west takeoff will be a prominent runway at El Toro because it is the safest of the four runways. Flying off runway 25 to the west, jumbo jets would take off into the wind, as they do at LAX, and would not face any dangerous obstructions.

So, what will the actual takeoff patterns look like? O.C. residents deserve to know. To sort out the mystery we talked to an FAA spokesman, an airport official from Northern California, several commercial pilots, the Air Line Pilots Association and El Toro airport spokespersons. We begin with a primer on what pilots think about during takeoff and then examine the debate about runways 34 (north) and 25 (west).

At John Wayne Airport and LAX the normal takeoff pattern is west - toward the Pacific Ocean. The reason for this is aeronautical physics. Planes take off faster and safer into the wind because the wind generates lift. Conversely, taking off with the wind at your tail can be dangerous.

To understand what is involved in a takeoff, we asked a veteran pilot to explain the steps involved in getting a commercial airliner up into the air. Capt. Richard Lottes is a pilot with United Airlines and is familiar with airports across the nation.

"Every takeoff is predicated on the plane losing one engine at the worst possible time. Pilots think of the takeoff and climb in three segments. In the first segment, what pilots refer to as 'balanced field,' you accelerate to a decision speed. Before reaching that point you can stop and will have enough runway to stop on the pavement. Once crossing that decision speed, the airplane must be able to accelerate on the remaining engine(s) to become airborne and cross the end of the runway at at least 35 feet in the air.

David Maas, deputy director of aviation at San Jose International Airport says, "Part 77 of the FAA rules say that to take off on a certain runway you have to be able to take off and lose the 'critical' engine and still be able to climb and clear the nearest obstruction by a certain distance and circle back and land safely."

Lottes continues, "In the second segment, you climb to (normally) 500 feet, level off so the plane can accelerate and then climb again. This can take a long time for a heavy plane and some distance. In the third climb segment, 500 to 1,500 feet, you are climbing to a safe maneuvering altitude.

"The problem at El Toro is that at 1,500 feet altitude we are not going to clear the mountains. This will force a turn in either the second or third segment and this is not good, especially if you have lost an engine."
 
Lottes says, "The loud noise of a takeoff can be lessened if a plane takes off with reduced thrust. However, several factors can preclude the use of reduced thrust - aircraft weight, runway length, temperature, atmospheric pressure and wind direction. Depending on the winds, a pilot may have to switch runways to take off into the wind. We are not allowed to take off with greater than 10 knots of tail wind."

Let's apply this knowledge to El Toro. El Toro has one long north-south runway and a shorter east-west runway. The runway oriented to the north-south (runway 34 for takeoff) involves the fewest people but aims toward Loma Ridge. In 1965, a military transport heading for Vietnam crashed into Loma Ridge, killing everyone on board.

Can a 747 fully loaded with passengers, cargo and fuel take off north over Loma Ridge and go non-stop to Japan or will such a flight need to use one of the other runways? We asked county officials.

Their written reply: "Table 2-7 of Technical Report No. 5 presents the service capabilities of the planned runway 34R. It indicates that the B747-400 can fly a full load of passengers to Tokyo, and more distant locations such as Seoul, London and Rome. It also indicates that the B747 freighter version can be accommodated at 90 percent of maximum payload to London and 80 percent maximum payload to Tokyo."

Lottes says, "Advocates of the airport may want to claim that planes will only launch to the north and east. But if El Toro international becomes a reality, pilots and the tower will do what is operationally required."

If the tailwind kicks up, the pilot has three choices. First, he or she can take off with full thrust, which will be a loud takeoff. Second, the pilot can launch into the wind either to the west over Irvine or to the south over Laguna Woods and Aliso Viejo.  The third option is to remove weight. However, this is less likely than the other two options because removing weight is economically costly.

Lottes says, "Safety is always the primary concern and may force use of departures to the west and south."

The Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), which represents about 90 percent of the nation's commercial airline pilots, took an official position on the safety of El Toro in a July 2, 1998 letter to Courtney Wiercioch, manager of the MCAS El Toro Master Development Program.

Capt. Jon Russell wrote, in part, "Mountainous terrain surrounds three sides of the airport, with only the area to the west being completely free of such terrain...Runways 25L and 25R offer the best departure paths, would often enable takeoffs into the wind and are free of rising terrain...Takeoffs to the northwest on runways 34L and 34R should be limited to head wind or calm wind conditions and a turn should be made to the northwest promptly after departure to avoid Loma Ridge. We know of no other airport in the country where such a significant terrain mass is overflown within three (3) miles of takeoff by commercial aircraft...not only are turns to the northwest necessary for most normal operations, they are essential for an aircraft that suffers an engine failure on liftoff."

If the airport becomes operational, the county and the FAA will agree on which runways are the "preferential runways," but this does not mean they will always be used. First, the FAA will rate runways telling the commercial carriers what types of planes can use which runways and under what conditions. Second, the tower and the pilot will have the final say about which runways are used on a particular day. Lottes says airport towers across the country try to be good neighbors. "They try to cooperate with the wishes of the community, but operational requirements will override noise requirements."

El Toro supporters continue to say that runway 25 will never be used.

"That is never going to happen for two reasons," says county spokeswoman Ellen Cox Call. "No majority of the Board of Supervisors would support that. And secondly, the cost of soundproofing all of those homes would be so exorbitant; it wouldn't happen. The bottom line is that runway 25 is not going to be used and therefore Irvine can rest easy."

FAA spokesman Mitch Barker says, "The takeoff and landing patterns at El Toro are a matter of some controversy at this time and the FAA has not yet made a determination about runways." Barker says the FAA is waiting for the county to make a "formal presentation of what they are proposing. We have heard informally, but at this point we don't know formally what they want.

"The FAA often sets up a preferential runway program but I have never heard of a runway being barred for use for anything other than being unsafe. I have never heard of a runway being barred because of noise."

Maas says that while the FAA could conceivably agree to not use a runway as part of a noise abatement program, it is unlikely. The FAA is "charged with the promotion and safety of aviation. To not use a runway would be to agree to operate an airport in a diminished capacity."

United Capt. Doug Orme, an Irvine resident with 30 years flying experience, offers this prediction about the future use of runway 25.

"If the airport is built, it's not going to be an unsafe operation. The FAA and the airlines will not allow that. What will happen is that after the money is spent and the airport is in place, the takeoffs and landings will be into the prevailing wind, away from the mountains and over the communities.

"The airport developers can build an airport but they can't change the direction of the prevailing winds, they can't change the laws of physics and they can't move mountains.

"If proponents get the airport built, they'll just shrug their shoulders and say, 'Don't blame us. We planned takeoffs on runway 7 (east) and 34 (north). It's the FAA and the nasty pilots who are insisting on flying over your neighborhoods.'"

Implicitly, the county gives credence to this scenario. Ellen Cox Call says, "In the end, it is understood that the safety of operations at El Toro must be endorsed by the FAA."

-Kevin O'Leary