July 24, 2003 News brief - What effects do Department of Transportation Secretary Norm Mineta's recent comments to Representative Cox have on El Toro's fate?

August 1 , 2003 News brief - JWA ranks among worst in nation

Friday, August 1, 2003 JWA fourth in U.S. in runway 'near misses' Report cites 31 incursions over four years, but airport officials say 30 of them posed little or no chance of resulting in a crash.

John Wayne Airport was the No. 4 airport in the country for runway close calls over a four-year period, though most of those events involved little or no collision risk, according to a federal study released Thursday.

Between Oct. 1, 1998, and Sept. 30, 2002, John Wayne tallied 31 runway incursions, or mistakes, according to a report by the Federal Aviation Administration's Office of Runway Safety.

These so-called near misses can be any event in which an aircraft, person, vehicle or object on the ground could result in a collision or problem at takeoff. However, John Wayne officials stressed Thursday that 30 of its 31 incursions were classified as "C" and "D" events, or those that posed little or no chance of resulting in a crash, such as a miscommunication between a controller and a pilot.

"The incursions ... are the lowest in severity," said Ann McCarley, an airport spokeswoman.

Facilities in the country with more runway incursions than John Wayne were Los Angeles International Airport, North Las Vegas Airport and Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport in Florida.
The report also showed that the nationwide number of these near misses on runways declined last year from 339 between Oct. 1, 2001, and Sept. 30, 2002, to 407 during the previous 12 months. FAA officials credited the 17 percent decrease in runway incidents to new technology and a campaign to increase awareness.

At John Wayne, for example, pilots, air-traffic controllers and airport vehicle operators have been required to take training classes to help reduce runway incidents. The airport also improved runway lighting and signage in 2001, McCarley said.

The effort appears to be working. In 2002, the number of airport incursions dropped from 12 to four, according to the FAA report. And all those were in the "little to no risk" category.

"We're always working to provide a safe airfield for all the pilots and passengers," said McCarley, adding that John Wayne served 7.9 million passengers last year.

Stopping runway incursions has been a priority of the National Transportation Safety Board, which took the unusual step in 2001 of asking key lawmakers to urge the FAA to address the problem.

    Nancy Luna, The Orange County Register

Editor’s notes:

This news is no new news. JWA has ranked unsafe for many years due to the volume being served. JWA was never intended to be a major commercial airport, as it was was originaly designed to serve general aviation. El Toro on the the otherhavd can be designed to be a safe commercial airport to best serve Orange County and the Southern California region.

JWA will continue to serve greater volumes of service and will therefore increase the probability of fatal accidents.

July 24, 2003 News brief - What effects do Department of Transportation Secretary Norm Mineta's recent comments to Representative Cox have on El Toro's fate?

    In response to the article (copied below), Mr. Mineta, in ill heath, and a democrat in a republican administration, could only reiterate what Mr. Herman Bliss (FAA Western Region Director of Airports) had written to me earlier at the request of the White House... that the first article of the U.S. Constitution gives the power to Congress to control interstate commerce, international commerce, postal roads and property of the Army and the Navy, and that Congress has not provided the FAA authority to operate an airport at the closed MCAS El Toro.

    Therefore it is up to Representative Dana Rohrabacher to look after his constituents who live in the communities of Dover Shores, West Cliff and Santa Ana Heights who are adversely impacted by increasing noise from aircraft departing from JWA/SNA ... and his constituents who live in Costa Mesa, Westminster, Huntington Beach, Seal Beach and Long Beach who are adversely impacted by increasing noise from aircraft approaching LGB.

    Voters in these communities depend on Representative Dana Rohrabacher to join with representatives of communities adversely impacted by increasing noise from aircraft approaching LAX and aircraft departing ONT and overcome the ill-directed influence of Representative Chris Cox and provide authority to the FAA to open a reasonable national airport at the closed MCAS El Toro under lease to LAWA that would not adversely impact any community such as described in this web site.
   -Griffin

    Below is a reprint of the article from the Daily Pilot

D.C. grounds L.A.'s El Toro airport proposal
Secretary of Transportation says Washington has no plans to halt Navy sale of the closed Marine base.

June Casagrande, Daily Pilot, July 23, 2003
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/pilot/news/la-dpt-eltoro23jul23,1,2433199.story?coll=la-tcn-pilot-news
NEWPORT-MESA ÷ The city of Los Angeles' request that the federal government push for an airport at El Toro has been answered with a firm "no" from Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta.

U.S. Rep. Chris Cox, who represents Newport Beach and Costa Mesa as well as much of southern Orange County, had asked Mineta to make public the department's position on El Toro. Mineta responded Tuesday to a June 19 letter from the congressman.

"The Department of Transportation (DOT), including the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), does not intend to intercede in the El Toro reuse process," Mineta wrote.

In early June, a secret letter from L.A. Mayor Jim Hahn to the federal government asking for approval to try to turn the closed Marine base into an airport became public. The news sparked a new round of hope and anguish in the ongoing airport debate.

Tuesday's news came as no surprise to local leaders.
"It really doesn't come as a surprise to me," Newport Beach Mayor Steve Bromberg said. "It's consistent with what we heard months ago, that the DOT wasn't going to change their minds."
Though local supporters of a commercial airport at El Toro might think Mineta's letter is bad news, Bromberg said that's not necessarily the case.

"In L.A.'s 37-page letter, they never laid out a plan for El Toro. Interestingly, they never contacted Newport Beach. I called three times to the L.A. mayor's office and never heard back. So without knowing what they had in mind, it's hard to say what this means. It's conceivable that a flight plan at El Toro could send planes right over Newport Beach. We had no way of knowing what they had in mind."

Tom Naughton, president of the pro-El Toro Airport Working Group, agreed that the news is no surprise. But it wouldn't be a surprise either to see Mineta change his mind, Naughton said.
"I don't think Mineta can turn his back on something that is a regional transportation issue," Naughton said.

The Navy plans to sell the bulk of the base's 4,700 acres in an online auction in the fall. In 2002, county voters approved Measure W, which rezoned the base for use as a central county park that includes commercial elements.

JUNE CASAGRANDE covers Newport Beach and John Wayne Airport. She may be reached at (949) 574-4232 or by e-mail at june.casagrande@latimes.com.

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