The planes are now constant over Laguna. Thanks to NextGen, the FAA’s realignment of the airspace over the U.S., flight paths have been changed to save fuel, decrease time in the air and make the air space safer. What they didn’t do was take into account what realigning the space would do to the communities under the new flight paths.
Laguna has been hit very hard with this change. The planes start leaving John Wayne at 7 a.m. and by 7:02 they are over South Laguna. The next one hits at 7:04 – every two to four minutes until the overnight-parked planes are all on their way about 8 a.m. But this constant trail of planes doesn’t end then or with the curfew at 10 p.m. Thanks to this new realignment we are now getting LAX flights that take over the JWA airspace when it shuts down for the night.
But that’s not the real issue. The new flight track is allowing flights to cross over Laguna at altitudes that are considerably lower than previously. We have tracked flights at 7,000 ft. from JWA and 3,000 ft from LAX. Imagine what that noise means, what the particulate pollution means?
If you are one of the thousands of residents who are now besieged and bothered by these planes, please attend a regional community forum with Supervisors Lisa Bartlett and Todd Spitzer. The meeting is Monday, May 15, at Laguna Niguel City Hall on Crown Valley at 6 p.m.
John Wayne Noise will also attend to explain what is happening and what you can do about it. Citizens for No Plane Noise will also be there to help you navigate the complaint process.
Citizens for No Plane Noise is a group of residents who came together to see what can be done collectively about the low flying, frequent airplanes. Go to NoPlaneNoise.us to see how to file complaints in the way that legislators and the FAA will take notice. There are sample letters and addresses.
Just like with the El Toro airport, we are hoping a grass roots groundswell will accomplish what we all want: planes flying over the ocean and crossing land at higher altitude to minimize noise and pollution. With your help we can do it! See you at the May 15 meeting.
Michele Monda, Laguna Beach
I’m in. The noise is horrible rumble waking me up every morning, sometimes around 3am, most times @ 7:04am. And I wonder about the exhaust and it’s detriment to the clean air of Laguna.
Hopefully this meeting will do more than the useless meeting in Corona Del Mar hosted by the FAA. Their ONLY concern and talk centered around the “safety” concerning the planes and the how new computerized system was better for all…..lowering fuel costs(where’s my rebate check airlines..?) and safe for passengers( what about those down here on the HILLSIDES??
NO. Noise, pollution and constant sleep interruption does nothing for MY safety…what about yours fellow Laguna residents?
Unfortunately we cannot expect much support form the city of Laguna Beach. I’ve been told”…we don’t regulate the air space above Laguna Beach…” Really? The city regulates everything else….but NOT the airspace???
HHHhhhhmmmmpppffffff….
Citizens, let’s unite. I will see you there Monday night in Laguna Niguel. @ 6pm…guess that city is more concerned than the city of Laguna Beach?
Here’s a clue: You can’t please everybody. Aircraft have to fly somewhere.
If everybody demands that they fly somewhere else, then they simply can’t fly.
What makes you in Laguna Beach better than anybody else, the price of your homes? Now many of you will be driving to protest something else, even as you preach the evils and utter destruction of climate change. The hypocrisy of so-called “environmentalists” is insufferable.
Just start counting them. Once you have a number in a 24 hour period make an average on a weeky basis. Look up modest fuel tables for the most common passenger jet . If you start to give relevant numbers you will have leverage and voice to listen to. Fuel consumption has a denominator in air quality and California gets funding from the federal government to reduce it not increase it.
For Alan Travis and others who dismiss this as “planes needing a place to fly”, and that it’s only because of the affluence of places like Laguna Beach that people are so upset, let me point out a couple things: First, no one is saying planes cannot fly. We, and so many other cities across the US have a serious problem with the drastic and sudden increase of flight traffic directly over our homes when we were never given any kind of disclosure or proper forums. Normally when someone buys property that’s under a flight path, it’s disclosed in the Real Estate agreement, but we’ve had none of that. Secondly, the extreme (yes, extreme) increase in air traffic has significant health consequences as well, from loss of sleep, peace and well-being, ability to concentrate as well as real and potential health consequences from increased air pollution. Why the sudden and drastic change in these flight paths all of a sudden?? Why not leave it as it was? Also, I can tell you that these new paths are far more concentrated making the chances of mid-air collision greater. FAA has NOT done proper studies, made proper disclosures, nor allowed for full and legit public comment.