Jet din falls on new ears

While residents of the Bluffs neighborhood in Newport Beach claim that the number of noisy jets flying over their homes hasn’t changed since the Federal Aviation Administration introduced a new takeoff procedure at John Wayne Airport, homeowners in the Irvine Terrace area claim they’ve noticed a big difference.

Residents from the neighborhood on the east side of Newport Bay, which is bordered by Bayside Drive and Pacific Coast Highway, say that many of the jets taking off from John Wayne now turn east directly over their homes.

The FAA disputes these claims.

“To us, it’s clear the planes are doing a different route,” said Irvine Terrace resident Ray Kennedy, who has lived in the neighborhood for the past 15 years. “We can hear them and see them in the sky at night by their lights.”

Typically, commercial airliners that take off from John Wayne bound for destinations east of Las Vegas fly out over the Pacific Ocean before turning east.

Kennedy claims some of the jets have started turning sooner since the FAA implemented a new takeoff procedure at John Wayne earlier this month.

Irvine Terrace resident Val Skoro, vice president of the Irvine Terrace homeowners association, says he too has noticed more noise from jets recently.

“Let’s put it this way, I can certainly hear them in the morning,” Skoro said. “It would seem they’re drifting more this way.”

In theory, the new takeoff procedure, called DUUKE TWO, is designed to shift outbound air traffic an eighth of a mile north toward the center of Upper Newport Bay.

The FAA implemented DUUKE TWO earlier this month at John Wayne Airport.

DUUKE TWO replaced an early procedure called DUUKE ONE, which residents from the Bluffs neighborhood complained shifted air traffic toward the east side of Upper Newport Bay. Bluffs residents told the Daily Pilot last week that they haven’t seen any difference in the number of planes flying over their homes since the FAA changed the takeoff procedure.

Tom Edwards, a consultant that Newport Beach has retained to advise the city on airport issues, said he believes that some of the jets from John Wayne may now be turning east before they get out over the ocean.

“The real question is, has [DUUKE TWO] made something worse, or is it even doing what the FAA said it was going to do,” Edwards said.

Ian Gregor, a spokesman for the FAA, said in an e-mail that DUUKE TWO does not changes the way jets turn east over the ocean.

“Air traffic controllers do not turn [jets using DUUKE TWO, or other takeoff methods] until they are at a specific way point out over the ocean, unless they have to take action to address a safety situation,” Gregor said.

Newport Beach Councilwoman Leslie Daigle, who chairs the city’s Citizens Aviation committee, said the city is working with federal and county officials to see how to fix problems with DUUKE TWO.

Newport Beach might also consider making a comprehensive study of where planes from John Wayne are flying over the city, she said.

John Wayne will share data it has collected on DUUKE TWO flight paths at the aviation committee’s next meeting, 8 a.m. Monday, in the Friends Room of the Newport Beach Public Library, 1000 Avocado Ave.