Flight Path

Paul Clinton NEWPORT BEACH -- An eerie silence has blanketed Santa Ana Heights in the days following terrorist attacks against the World Trade Center and Pentagon. In the usually bustling neighborhood that lies beneath the John Wayne Airport flight path, the streets have been quiet and deserted as most residents have stayed in their homes watching the ongoing coverage of the aftermath of the bombings. One woman, who declined to give her name, said she was content staying at her Pegasus Street home.

Not only is there an increase in the number of John Wayne Airport passengers as reported in the Daily Pilot on May 7, 2003, there also seems to be an increase in the buzz of grumbling comments growing in the community ("Number of JWA passengers increases"). From Huntington Beach residents to Corona del Mar and Balboa homeowners, complaining about the airplane noise and shifting flight patterns is the conversation that's got it going on. And, of course, there's not a word from our quiet Irvine neighbors to the south.

Updated February 2, 2011 3:03 p.m. The Federal Aviation Administration announced Monday that it has successfully completed tests for a new John Wayne Airport flight path, and planes will start flying the new route in February. The procedure is the result of a nearly one-year tussle between Newport Beach residents and FAA officials, who agreed to modify a new satellite-based navigation system after residents complained about jet engine noise in the skies above some Newport homes.

Not content with the right to veto any proposal for a second commercial runway at John Wayne Airport, Newport Beach is looking to leverage its power over airport expansion any way it can. The latest proposal is a position statement that ideally would be approved by the corridor cities in the flight path. The Newport Beach City Council will consider the position statement today. It said there is no viable site for a second Orange County airport, and the cities will search for ways to satisfy the demand without expanding John Wayne Airport.

Starting Thursday, some planes taking off from John Wayne Airport will fly about a football field’s distance west of their current route, if the Federal Aviation Administration’s new flight procedure works as intended. The FAA changed the route after discovering that a worker had incorrectly entered the altitude where planes are required to turn — a “minor charting error” — an FAA spokesman said. The revised changes should make the flights slightly less noisy for residents on the east side of Upper Newport Bay, while the general flying public probably won’t notice a change.

June Casagrande Newport Coast residents are complaining that flight noise over their homes is getting worse. And while aviation industry officials say the problem is caused by private planes, others say Long Beach is the source of the noise. At a recent candidate forum, several residents of Newport Coast complained that there had been a noticeable increase in flights over their homes, particularly in the Ocean Ridge development. "I think it's real.

I will attempt to offer something helpful to all of us affected by John Wayne Airport: a history lesson in changing flight patterns. My observations are from where I have lived in Newport Beach. My first residence, from 1964 to 1980, was on Toyon Lane, in what is loosely known as the Dover Shores area. My second was from 1980 to 1984 on Harbor Island. My third, from 1988 to 1995, was on Lincoln Lane, also in Dover Shores. My fourth is also in Dover Shores, on Galaxy Drive, where I have lived since 1995.

In Santa Ana Heights, life is plenty pretty Thank you, Steve Smith, for denigrating both the people in Santa Ana Heights and the neighborhood itself ("Rasputin keeps on trying to fly high," Jan. 26). It's clear you haven't spent much time in our neighborhood or talking to us since 1992, or you'd have a much different picture. Yes, we live under the flight path. And it's irksome at times. But in this small neighborhood, the streets are so traffic-light that kids ride their go-karts on them.

Newport Beach residents who live under the John Wayne Airport flight path probably won’t notice much of a difference when the Federal Aviation Administration introduces a new departure procedure at the airport next month, officials said Friday. Called DUUKE ONE, the new satellite-based navigation system will allow aircraft to fly a more consistent track down the middle of Upper Newport Bay, aviation officials said. “What is going to happen [is that] planes are going to be flying more consistent flight paths, so you won’t see the occasional flight path drift off to one side,” said Ian Gregor, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration.

Newport Beach Mayor Keith Curry plans to address the quickly expiring settlement agreement and subsequent amendments that sets limits on noise, flight times, terminal size, parking and other factors at John Wayne Airport during the Airport Working Group's annual meeting. The group, commonly called AWG, is focused on quality of life in sections of Newport Beach and other cities affected by air traffic at JWA Members monitor data from the flight path. Curry plans to discuss the current state of the agreement that settled a 1985 lawsuit filed against the county by the city of Newport Beach, AWG and other parties, as well as a later amendment that permitted limited growth at JWA. The settlement, which limits flight times to 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. weekdays and Saturdays and 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sundays, expires in 2015.

Federal Aviation Administration officials told a group of Newport Beach city leaders and residents Wednesday that the FAA would not make any additional adjustments to a contentious John Wayne Airport departure path. Residents upset about the year-old satellite-navigated route asked the administration to change the paths of some planes in an attempt to decrease noise, and to send some planes farther offshore before turning down the coast. The FAA, however, has already adjusted the procedures twice in response to residents' concerns.

Some Newport Beach city officials and residents are heading to the Federal Aviation Administration's Los Angeles offices Wednesday to assess John Wayne Airport's controversial one-year-old flight route and to advocate for changes. Since the route was implemented last March, residents from Corona del Mar and Newport Coast have complained of more noise. The meeting comes as the FAA plans for another flight path, one that would apply to the remaining half of all departures. JWA is one of the nation's many airports undergoing a transition to satellite-controlled navigation.

About a dozen Corona del Mar residents attended Monday's monthly meeting of the Newport Beach Aviation Committee and expressed concern over increased noise. Corona del Mar Residents Assn. President Karen Tringali said she has received 13 pages of e-mails from concerned residents. "Many of us have observed planes that appear to be on a more diagonal path," she told the committee. "Last Thursday, one appeared to fly over the clock tower at Marguerite and Coast Highway. " Commercial planes leaving John Wayne Airport in March began using the so-called STREL flight path, which takes planes over the Back Bay to a turnaround point over the ocean.

A Corona del Mar woman has created a website, called Stop Airplane Noise, in response to a new John Wayne Airport flight path that many residents believe has planes flying over the village and creating unprecedented noise. "My webpage and petition is meant to give CdM residents a central place to post their comments and sign a petition," said Kay Rackauckas. Rackauckas said that after she was quoted on the Corona del Mar Today site and later wrote a letter to the editor of the Daily Pilot about 20 people approached her, asking what to do to make their concerns known.

Updated February 2, 2011 3:03 p.m. The Federal Aviation Administration announced Monday that it has successfully completed tests for a new John Wayne Airport flight path, and planes will start flying the new route in February. The procedure is the result of a nearly one-year tussle between Newport Beach residents and FAA officials, who agreed to modify a new satellite-based navigation system after residents complained about jet engine noise in the skies above some Newport homes.

NEWPORT BEACH — Planes flying out of John Wayne Airport emit potentially harmful particles, but at levels lower than federal clean-air standards, according to a study released Monday. Commissioned by the city, the $60,000 study looked at air quality in six locations and identified certain emissions that come from aircraft. City officials hoped the report would provide some evidence of the airport's impacts on Newport Beach residents. They are gearing up for negotiations over the airport's operations; an agreement will expire in 2015 that limits when planes can fly and how many can depart, among other controls.

I will attempt to offer something helpful to all of us affected by John Wayne Airport: a history lesson in changing flight patterns. My observations are from where I have lived in Newport Beach. My first residence, from 1964 to 1980, was on Toyon Lane, in what is loosely known as the Dover Shores area. My second was from 1980 to 1984 on Harbor Island. My third, from 1988 to 1995, was on Lincoln Lane, also in Dover Shores. My fourth is also in Dover Shores, on Galaxy Drive, where I have lived since 1995.

Newport Bluffs residents along the Back Bay will have to live with the current procedure for airplanes departing from John Wayne Airport until possibly 2011, Federal Aviation Administration officials said Monday. Ian Gregor, FAA spokesman, said the administration’s data show that commercial jetliners taking off from JWA using DUUKE TWO are still flying slightly east, sometimes over Newport Bluffs homes, instead of down the center of the Back Bay as intended. DUUKE THREE, which would move a way point — a location on a plane’s flight path it has to cross — that’s about two miles off the coast — hundreds of feet west — may not be implemented until 2011, Gregor said.