Editorial: FAA moves to right its flight mistake

The fix needed fixing.

On Thursday, the slightest of changes occurred in the skies above Newport Beach. It was implemented to lessen the din of jets taking off from John Wayne Airport and repair a man-made error from last fall, when new coordinates were plotted for 100 departing flights.

As of Thursday, a satellite-based navigation system was guiding flights 300 feet closer toward the centerline of Upper Newport Bay as they flew out of JWA on a 190-degree course. The diversion’s purpose was to reduce jet engine noise that could be heard at ground level.

In civil aviation lingo the new procedure is known as DUUKE TWO. It tweaks DUUKE ONE, coined after the nickname for the airport’s namesake. Ironically, the Federal Aviation Administration put DUUKE ONE into place last year to ease local residents’ complaints about such noise.

But an FAA worker had made a “minor charting error” while entering the new coordinates into the computer, as the Orange County Local News Network reported Wednesday. The error resulted in planes turning too soon on a 175-degree heading and straying closer to land, before flying farther out to sea, where they should have been making the turn. That resulted in noise pollution for residents on the bay’s east side.

It’s unsettling that a charting mistake caused more misery for homeowners living under JWA’s flight paths. Yet we commend the FAA for recognizing the error and moving to fix it.