Tripp
You think you hate it now...
FAA Says El Toro Could Handle Commercial Flights
Aero-News.net
Orange County (CA) residents are bracing for the next round of battles of former MCAS El Toro. Airport opponents had hoped the FAA would find the military strip would be unsuitable for commercial flights; but that's not what the agency said in its preliminary report, delivered to the county on Wednesday. "We have concluded that flights from the existing facility could be safely accommodated," Herman Bliss, FAA Airports Division manager, wrote. "The FAA is currently developing preliminary instrument departure and arrival procedures that would ensure aircraft are operated safely, with adequate obstruction clearance within existing airspace," he said in his letter to county officials.
Critics say that John Wayne and LAX already make things too crowded, and that additional capacity will only lead to more traffic. Proponents of the commercial use say that more airports will relieve some of the congestion, and that the area's growth is demanding it, in any case.
Our take: At issue on the surface are the red herrings of "safety" and "noise." Underlying the opposition to the airport are special interests, developers who would work hand-in-glove with their paid-off cronies in local government, to divide the land and line their pockets. These are the "leaders" of the "environmental" movement that almost always oppose any kind of airport expansion or even survival, fooling decent people into thinking that more houses and more traffic on the ground is somehow better for the wildlife than less congestion in the air. They do it all the time -- and people fall for it all the time, playing into their hands, and lining their pockets.
FMI: http://www.ocnow.com/news/1999/06/28/toro_history.html
Aero-News.net
Orange County (CA) residents are bracing for the next round of battles of former MCAS El Toro. Airport opponents had hoped the FAA would find the military strip would be unsuitable for commercial flights; but that's not what the agency said in its preliminary report, delivered to the county on Wednesday. "We have concluded that flights from the existing facility could be safely accommodated," Herman Bliss, FAA Airports Division manager, wrote. "The FAA is currently developing preliminary instrument departure and arrival procedures that would ensure aircraft are operated safely, with adequate obstruction clearance within existing airspace," he said in his letter to county officials.
Critics say that John Wayne and LAX already make things too crowded, and that additional capacity will only lead to more traffic. Proponents of the commercial use say that more airports will relieve some of the congestion, and that the area's growth is demanding it, in any case.
Our take: At issue on the surface are the red herrings of "safety" and "noise." Underlying the opposition to the airport are special interests, developers who would work hand-in-glove with their paid-off cronies in local government, to divide the land and line their pockets. These are the "leaders" of the "environmental" movement that almost always oppose any kind of airport expansion or even survival, fooling decent people into thinking that more houses and more traffic on the ground is somehow better for the wildlife than less congestion in the air. They do it all the time -- and people fall for it all the time, playing into their hands, and lining their pockets.
FMI: http://www.ocnow.com/news/1999/06/28/toro_history.html