The Marines Leave El Toro--and Its Future

* Goodbye, El Toro.

Having performed yeoman effort in support of our nation against its armed enemies, it’s sad to watch you surrender to politicians, developers and bean counters.

Semper fi.

C.H. GULLETT

San Clemente

* Before the flight demonstrations [in June], the county persisted in its claims that the noise contour of the proposed flight paths for El Toro will not affect houses and schools.

After completion of the demonstration, Supervisor Charles V. Smith admitted that houses in Aliso Viejo and Laguna Woods require insulation.

Another propaganda myth falls by the wayside, bringing the county’s credibility to a new low.

PAUL T. WILLEMS

Laguna Niguel

* I have followed much of the El Toro controversy as recorded in the “Letters to the Editor” following the trial flights in early June.

One factor seems to have been overlooked: what the numbers on the scale of sound intensity mean.

The scale is a logarithmic one. This means that a change of 10 decibels represents a change of a factor of 10 in intensity.

I noticed in one report that a vacuum cleaner was about 81 decibels, while the sound level at one of the stations was 89 decibels. This was then characterized as “a little louder than a vacuum cleaner.”

In fact, the 89-decibel level would be the same as the noise from 6.3 vacuum cleaners, which is quite different from “a little louder.”

VANCE GRITTON

Irvine

* American Airlines Vice President Robert Baker stated that El Toro Runway 7 “will never be considered desirable or preferable from an airline or pilot’s point of view.”

OK, it isn’t preferable. But isn’t it a bit of a stretch to manipulate that statement to fit the June 30 article’s headline, “Airline Details El Toro Safety Concerns,” or Irvine Mayor Christina Shea’s conclusion, “It just blows apart the entire premise of the county planning a [huge] airport in our backyard”?

Did anyone hear the word “unsafe” or even “risky” mentioned?

I wonder what Baker’s answer would be if someone asked him which airport he considered safer, El Toro or John Wayne.

Those of us who use John Wayne know takeoffs are so steep it is a miracle engines don’t stall and the runway so short there have been times pilots wondered if they might need an arresting hook to land.

Eight airlines thought El Toro airport safe enough to trust their planes, pilots and reputations to use those runways during the recent flight tests.

There were no safety problems then, nor will there be once El Toro opens to commercial flights.

Who wants to bet Baker’s airline will be first in line to use the new airport? He knows the Federal Aviation Administration would never allow those runways to be used if there was a real safety risk.

E. FINE

Newport Beach

* The people who brought us the bankruptcy and failing toll roads now want the singular distinction of being the only government body in the United States, or the world for that matter, to build a major airport within a metropolitan area.

You don’t have to travel much to realize that everyone else has moved their airports away from populated areas. Most everywhere you travel you’re looking at an hour’s ride into the city from the airport. Our county supervisors must know something no one else does.

For their thoughtfulness regarding property values, especially those who can least afford it in Leisure World, they should receive the Charles Keating Humanitarian Award (Senior Division) and for their perseverance, the Orange County Developers Marionette Award.

HARRY ROONEY

Laguna Hills

* That was a nice layout you had on El Toro Marine Corps Air Station in the June 30 paper.

You left out a few important things: Fifty years ago, except for the Navy and Marine personnel, nobody lived within 10 miles of the base, except for a few farmers who lived in the hamlet (if you could call it that) of Irvine. That consisted of a post office, a general store, a few shacks and a railroad stop.

All the current complainers moved to the airport; it was not built around them.

There is a lot of misinformation and hypocrisy among the opponents of the airport.

They complain that the “developers” are for the airport. That is so obviously false. The developers are drooling, waiting for the airport to be closed so they can “develop” the area.

Opponents complained that the airliner tests would not be worth anything, yet some of them jump at the chance to complain about the “deafening” noise generated by the airliners. What deafening noise?

My mother-in-law lives in the towers at Leisure World with a nice view of the airport. When I asked her about how the noise tests affected her, her response was, “What noise tests?”

Opponents complain about “safety issues.” How many crashes have there been at the airport in the nearly 60 years it was operated?

The takeoffs and landings will be using the safest paths available, regardless of what the county supervisors say. And the noise will be not more than that made by the trucks on the streets nearby.

I’ve lived within six miles of John Wayne airport for 39 years and my home is about a mile from the approach path to that airport.

The airliners are heard, but the noise they make is less than the garbage truck makes when it wakes me in the morning.

DAVID FEIGN

Santa Ana

* I have been in the Marine Corps, on active duty and now in the reserves, in southern Orange County for 12 years.

I have always known that El Toro would someday close as more and more communities “grew up” around the base and jet noise became less and less tolerated by more and more residents.

The fact that the Board of Supervisors would consider an airport in place of the air station that would have much larger, noisier and more frequent aircraft is deplorable.

Recently, both LAX and Burbank airports have come up against significant opposition from local residents regarding expansion plans.

The recent test flights into El Toro demonstrated that no amount of noise abatement would keep an airport from having a severely negative impact on the quality of life (and property values) for residents of this area.

The continued pursuit of an airport at El Toro will result in a protracted legal and political battle that will end up costing county taxpayers millions.

South County residents will end up fighting for their neighborhoods, quality of life and property values tooth and nail, and the fight will be expensive for all residents of Orange County.

I urge the Board of Supervisors to seriously consider proposed alternatives for the use of El Toro.

GREGORY D. STEVENS

Laguna Niguel

* We watched in sadness the television coverage of the official closing of El Toro on July 2.

The two F-18s thundered over our home on approach to the base for their ceremonial fly-by in a final salute to the base’s 56 years of service to our country and Orange County.

Speakers at the ceremony and in later news accounts often alluded to the fact that the Marines were indeed good neighbors.

Along with being extensively involved in the surrounding communities, the Marine Corps gave its best effort to minimize the impact of its flight operations on those communities.

While very often loud and disruptive, flights were rare on weekends and after 11 p.m. Those critics who enjoy describing South County citizens as NIMBYs for their opposition to the county’s airport project should remember that those communities lived with the base for many years without complaint, for the Marines were carrying out their mission of keeping us all safe and protecting our way of life.

The occasional screaming of military aircraft over our homes could be justified, for that was the sound of freedom ringing.

The county’s proposed international airport’s operations would be 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with flights every three to four minutes.

That is the sound of developers’ cash registers ringing. That is not justifiable.

RICHARD W. LUBLINE

Aliso Viejo