Residents Irked by Predawn Army Flight

A giant C-5 cargo plane’s predawn takeoff from a military airfield over the weekend left some nearby Seal Beach residents fearing for their lives.

And irate council members Monday night said they would give the Army an earful.

Councilwoman Gwen Forsythe said she will send a “poison pen letter” to Army officials in protest of the 4:40 a.m. Saturday takeoff from the Los Alamitos Armed Forces Reserve Center.

Residents feared the plane was about to crash because of its low altitude, Forsythe said.

“People actually got out of their homes in their bedclothes, stood in the street and watched this monster go overhead,” Forsythe said.

Councilman George Brown, a Leisure World resident, said he and other retirement community residents were startled awake by the door-rattling flight.

“It went right over Leisure World,” Brown said. “It had to be off course.”

The C-5 is the military’s largest aircraft, comparable in size to a 747 jetliner.

Airfield Commander Lt. Col. Jim Ghormley said the aircraft was at least 1,000 feet above the ground as it climbed over the northern section of the city toward the coast.

Ghormley said the flight was on course and residents were in no danger.

“It was a very, very safe flight,” he said. “These airplanes are flown by extremely careful air crews.”

The aircraft was loaded with supplies for Army engineers who are building roads in Panama, Ghormley said.

He said the flight had been delayed two days and the need for the supplies was deemed essential, warranting the unusual departure time.

“This is the very first and only time that we have ever authorized a flight of this kind outside our normal hours of operation,” Ghormley said. “This probably won’t happen again.”