Airport supporters need a united front

In his letter of June 17, Russell Niewiarowski expressed hope that

Los Angeles may be able to silence South County NIMBYs by putting El

Toro into federal jurisdiction (“L.A. may be able to silence NIMBYs).

As he correctly points out, the needs of Orange County, Southern

California regional transportation area and the national air

transportation system require the inclusion of El Toro into the U.S.

airways system to add much-needed runway capacity. After all, the

airport was built with taxpayer funds and rightfully belongs to all

U.S. residents.

I agree wholeheartedly with all but the last paragraph in the

letter. In that paragraph, he suggests that the Board of Supervisors

could not plan an airport in accordance with the Federal Aviation

Administration. That is a totally incorrect statement. At the board’s

direction, a very competent design team led by Gary Simon not only

designed the remodeling of the existing El Toro airport, but had it

approved by the aviation administration and the Navy. The plan is

available for review at local county libraries.

The V-Plan is another way to redesign the airport, but has no

advantage over the existing, approved airport plan. The planes would

be required to take off and fly south over the Irvine Spectrum and

southern Newport Coast homes. The significant advantage of the

present airport configuration is that the design is complete and has

been approved by both the aviation administration and the Navy. The

county would be remiss in its duty to waste money and effort on some

sideline scheme that has no recognition by the federal government.

As to the “pilots’ plan,” the pilots I have spoken to who have

flown into and out of El Toro thousands of times are unanimous that

El Toro is a good airport. The V-Plan is a divisive scheme that has

cost El Toro an estimated 50,000 votes, votes that could have helped

defeat the Measure W scam. To be effective, the airport supporters

should all be pulling in the same direction.

WILLIAM KEARNS

Costa Mesa