There is a great deal of talk these days about Miramar being the ideal replacement for Lindbergh. The location, runways and landing approach are all excellent. However, in actual practice, it would be a major disaster.
The problem lies in the departure from the airport. From Aero 101, we recall that planes must take off into the wind. The wind in that area blows almost constantly from the west or 270 degrees. Even now when planes leave Miramar on the runway heading of 240 degrees, they must turn to the right about 30 to 40 degrees to avoid flying over downtown La Jolla. That route is called the Seawolf Departure to enter the high altitude airway structure.
A few years ago, the airport authority reported there were 290,000 flight operations at Lindbergh. Based on the allowed operational time of 18 hours a day, from 6 a.m. to midnight, that would mean one takeoff every 15 minutes. The actual result would be a stream of departing multi-engine commercial and private aircraft with their noise and pollution going out over the Torrey Pines Golf Course at 2,000 feet. Two-thousand feet is mandated because as air traffic crosses the coast, it joins a federal airway called Victor 25, which is blocked out from 4,000 to 10,000 feet for air traffic which must be under positive radar control before turning north to parallel the coast.
Under that departure corridor, we have thousands of homes, condos, apartments, four of the city’s major hospitals, UCSD (with its projected enrollment of at least 50,000 students), La Jolla Country Day School, the Jewish Community Center, a major freeway intersection (I-5 and I-805), the Salk Institute, a major shopping center (UTC), hotels, high-rise office buildings and hundreds of businessmen in Sorrento Valley. By the time Miramar could be operational, the situation would be even worse.
The Seawolf Departure is the only and best route out to the airway because it is the safest and the least annoying to the public. Southern Del Mar would also be affected mostly by the noise pollution.
If Miramar did replace Lindbergh, that entire area would inherit the noise, pollution and congestion that has been plaguing Point Loma for decades. The worst effect would be that real estate values in the area would plummet. There is probably enough wealth in the area to keep such a project tied up in the court for years ” driving the cost to prohibitive levels.
The concept of joint usage with the Marines is another myth. Disregarding the problem of the air traffic ” a dangerous and complex problem ” where would the terminals be built? The only places might be the area to the south of the runways where the landfill now operates.
However, that section won’t be settled enough on which to build for decades. One has only to look at Palomar Airport, which has been settling for decades and is years away from full development. Perhaps you have driven over Route 52 as it “roller-coasters” past the dump. About every six months or so, CalTrans has to go out there and smooth out the ride. On the north side of the Marine base is the already intensely congested Miramar Road with its 19 stoplights. Immediately north of the road are hundreds of businesses ” all serviced by that same highway.
Although we can’t seem to get any one interested, we think the best site to replace Lindbergh is in the lower bay below the Coronado Bridge. Old topographical maps show a Navy seaplane runway that was aligned with the present Lindbergh runway. The Navy flew thousands of flights down the Sweetwater River Valley, touched down in the bay and then out over the strand. True, it would have to be built on fill across the water. Many cities like San Francisco, Boston, New York, Baltimore, Miami, Hong Kong, etc. have built successful airports on fill. As a matter of fact, San Diego has already completed two very successful fill projects on the bay: Shelter Island and Harbor Island.
An airport in the lower bay would be probably be the least expensive of the proposals and one of the safest in the nation and it would still be downtown. But, then again, I forget we live in Scam City.

Timothy O’Neil
Roca de pájaro