Badham Asks FAA for Greater Radar Control at John Wayne Airport

Rep. Robert E. Badham (R-Newport Beach) has asked the Federal Aviation Administration to impose new flight rules at John Wayne Airport that would require more extensive use of radar control of planes taking off and landing.

At a meeting in Fountain Valley on Wednesday, Badham told a group of about 120 constituents that he is working to get improved air traffic control at John Wayne Airport. Badham said he wants radar expanded at the airport “to give information and advisories to incoming and outgoing aircraft about potential traffic hazards.”

Jay Maag, air traffic manager at John Wayne Airport and FAA coordinator for Orange County, said Wednesday that he favors the proposed change. Maag added that the proposal, which calls for creation of an airport radar service area (ARSA) in the John Wayne area, has been under discussion for some time.

“I believe it’s a good idea,” Maag said. “The (John Wayne) airport is getting a higher volume of air carriers, and I think this is something that would make the airport safer.”

Maag, however, emphasized that the airport is not unsafe under its present operation, which calls for visual flight rules.

“It’s not unsafe now, but this would add an increased degree of safety,” he said.

‘Increase Our Workload’

Maag said that if the FAA calls for such a change at John Wayne, “I’m going to seek more people (to work in the control tower), because this would increase our workload.”

The proposed change would regulate the airspace within a five-mile radius of John Wayne Airport. Maag said the tower controllers would sequence the landings of planes through radar control if the new ARSA is created.

“We’d be providing additional services to planes in the airport area,” he said.

Badham, in a news release, said the heavy volume of air traffic at John Wayne necessitates a change to more radar control under an ARSA: “There are 89 ARSAs in the country, and despite the fact that John Wayne is one of the busiest airports, it doesn’t have one.”

In speaking to the group of constituents Wednesday, Badham said that he has “personally made it my business that an ARSA is installed there.”

He added that improving air safety “is on the one hand something that we and I have not neglected, but progress is very slow. . . . It is not a problem that is going to go away unless we put a lot of effort behind it.”

Russell Park, spokesman for the FAA’s Western-Pacific Region, said if the FAA formally proposes creating an ARSA at John Wayne, a series of notices and hearings must be held.

“It’s a very involved procedure, and it could take up to a year,” Park said.