Real-life noise abatement question

[nevinch]

Was just curious if any one has flown or been a PAX out of John Wayne (KSNA)? I lived in Orange County my whole life up until about 2
years ago. Anyhow, taking off from there always seemed excessively steep....we always heard it had something to do with noise
abatement...if that's the case does that necessarily mean noise abatement procedures mean a steep climb out from the runway?

Just curious about some of this real word stuff.

Thx
Chuck

[SWAFO]

Chuck,
I've flown out of SNA about a dozen times... it's an airport with more strict than usual noise abatement procedures. Here's a link to a
website with Noise abatement information: http://www.boeing.com/commercial/noise

Let me know if you have any more specific questions.

[nevinch]

Nope, that's exactly what I was looking for. Thanks Brad!!! BTW, since you have quite a bit of experience there.....do you find 19R to be
typically shorter than most airports you fly to? I believe it's only 5'700 ft and it just astounds me all the traffic SNA sees on a daily basis.
Bet you guys put your autobrakes to Max when flying in there!!! LOL

Anyways, I'll take a look at that link. Thanks again

Chuck

[SWAFO]

Chuck,
Glad that helped. Actually, here at SWA we don't use autobrakes on landing. Just in the RTO position during takeoff. lol.
Nevermind that though.

If I'm not mistaken, 1L/19R is the shortest runway we'll use system-wide throughout all Southwest Airlines' airports. A lot of
runways in California are shorter (due to the lower elevation), and a lot of us pilots don't like that short of a runway. The minimum runway
specified for a 737 type aircraft is 5500 ft. 1L/19R at SNA is only 5700 ft. Cutting it pretty close, especially during takeoff (during landing, I
can stop in 4000' if not less, if I have to... lol).

Another tricky airport is BUR. BUR is actually one of my favorite airports, since the view all around is just spectactular. It's also got
some hairy approaches, that can be a lot of fun. Not sure if you remember, however SWA had it's worst accident ever a few years back
when a 737-300 skidded off the end of the runway at BUR. It ended up sitting on a road at the east side of the airport. That's one of the
dangers with these shorter runways, and fast approach speeds (I believe that pilot touched down around 160 KTS).


Hope this helps.