SOUNDING OFF:Other cities should hear JWA

The most exciting vectored departure for John Wayne Airport could be a sharp left turn immediately after liftoff while the big commercial transport planes are still over the runway. In this departure, airplanes would turn and fly along Bristol Street, the lakes, UC Irvine and the Turtle Rock neighborhood. No one in Newport Beach would be in the noise zone anymore.

Normal arrivals would be over Irvine. In this landing, the planes could pass over Saddleback Peak and dive down onto El Toro, making a right turn, followed by a left turn, onto the John Wayne Airport runway, thus “cutting the corner.” The most innovative approach, that for international flights, would come ashore over Dana Point’s Monarch Bay.

The planes could fly over Aliso Viejo, essentially repeating the old El Toro approach; thence they’d do a 180-degree left turn over Irvine to land at John Wayne Airport.

During Santa Ana wind conditions, the directions would be reversed at touchdown. Arrivals would be over Irvine and San Diego Creek, with a 90-degree right turn on final approach to the north. Newport Beach beyond Anniversary Lane would no longer see the landing airplanes. Takeoffs would be to the north, with a right turn after liftoff, where most of the planes want to fly.

Newport Beach, Costa Mesa, and Villa Park have put up with the airport for a long time. Vectoring gets the planes away from traditional cities and produces a new set of victims, mainly those who fought the El Toro airport plans, which had no one in its noise zone.

An alternative to new vectored flying at John Wayne Airport is simply to open an El Toro international airport at El Toro. An alternative to this alternative is to acquire more land at John Wayne Airport for fuel-saving cross runways. Newport Beach would approve of this expansion because it helps Newport Beach.

of Newport Beach is a retired engineer for Boeing Co.