thedrifter
09-05-04, 07:55 AM
Civilian pilots set for bureaucratic dogfight with Marines
Size of jet practice area in dispute
By JERRY ALLEGOOD, Staff Writer
Civilian pilots are facing off with the Marine Corps for control of Eastern North Carolina airspace.
There won't be dogfights or aerial encounters. It's a bureaucratic fight that the Federal Aviation Administration will settle.
Private pilots and operators of small airports are lining up to oppose Marine Corps proposals to expand the airspace where jets practice. They say giving the military more room will make civilian flying more hazardous and limit access to the Outer Banks.
"It's difficult to get here now," said George Speake, manager of the Dare County Regional Airport in Manteo.
Speake said pilots already encounter large blocks of restricted airspace over bombing ranges, including an Air Force range on the mainland and a Navy range in Pamlico Sound.
"With this being a tourist area, a lot of pilots are flying themselves," he said. "They see all that restricted airspace and they go to Ocean City, Maryland, or to Florida."
Dan Brown, deputy director of operations at the Cherry Point Marine Corps Air Station at Havelock, said the fears of private pilots are unfounded. He said private pilots would be able to fly through the airspace. He said aviation would be safer because the military has radar coverage that will keep track of airplanes.
"There's no reason to avoid these areas," he said.
The Marine Corps is seeking two blocks of airspace, called military operating areas, from 3,000 feet to 18,000 feet above the ground. The two areas, which total about 900 square miles, would link with existing military airspace in the center of the coast.
One 3-by-35-mile block lies over Core Banks in Cape Lookout National Seashore in Carteret County. Brown said that airspace is needed so jets can fly at high speeds from the ocean into training areas. Currently, jets below 10,000 feet have to slow to 250 mph. That's like hitting a speed bump, he said, because jets can fly faster at sea and in the adjacent restricted area in Pamlico Sound.
A second area would be established in an irregular block, about 25 by 30 miles, over portions of Beaufort, Hyde, Pamlico, Tyrrell and Washington counties.
Brown said the Marine Corps needs the additional airspace so training can be moved from restricted areas that are congested. He said pilots will not perform "heavy-duty dogfights." Instead, he said, they will practice maneuvers such as flying in formation and doing rolls or upside-down flights.
Those maneuvers are not practical over the ocean, he said, because pilots need to see the ground so they don't become disoriented.
Limited use
Brown said military pilots will use a certain portion of the airspace for a set amount of time, say 45 minutes, and then leave. He said air traffic controllers know where airplanes are at all times and can keep them away from other aircraft.
"You're not going to see dozens of airplanes and dozens and dozens of flights a day," he said.
Marine officials said more of the military flights are higher than 10,000 feet and that noise on the ground would be loudest only a few minutes a day.
The Marine Corps has been seeking additional airspace for two decades. Earlier proposals that would have allowed jets to fly about 500 feet above ground encountered stiff objections from civilian pilots and area residents. The current proposals have become entangled in lawsuits over Navy plans to build an outlying landing field for combat jets in Washington County.
Environmental groups contend that the military should look at the cumulative harm from the landing field and additional airspace. The military contends the two proposals are not related.
Opposition from airports and civilian pilots grew more vocal last month when the FAA announced that it was reviewing the Marine Corps proposals for airspace. Critics said the review was not adequately publicized.
An FAA spokeswoman said Thursday that comments will be accepted through September.
The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association of Frederick, Md., an organization that claims 400,000 members, joined several regional airports opposing expansion of military airspace. The group told the FAA last week that more military airspace would limit flights severely southwest of Ocracoke Island.
Staff writer Jerry Allegood can be reached at (252) 752-8411 or jerrya@newsobserver.com.
http://newsobserver.com/news/story/1602877p-7808809c.html
Ellie
Size of jet practice area in dispute
By JERRY ALLEGOOD, Staff Writer
Civilian pilots are facing off with the Marine Corps for control of Eastern North Carolina airspace.
There won't be dogfights or aerial encounters. It's a bureaucratic fight that the Federal Aviation Administration will settle.
Private pilots and operators of small airports are lining up to oppose Marine Corps proposals to expand the airspace where jets practice. They say giving the military more room will make civilian flying more hazardous and limit access to the Outer Banks.
"It's difficult to get here now," said George Speake, manager of the Dare County Regional Airport in Manteo.
Speake said pilots already encounter large blocks of restricted airspace over bombing ranges, including an Air Force range on the mainland and a Navy range in Pamlico Sound.
"With this being a tourist area, a lot of pilots are flying themselves," he said. "They see all that restricted airspace and they go to Ocean City, Maryland, or to Florida."
Dan Brown, deputy director of operations at the Cherry Point Marine Corps Air Station at Havelock, said the fears of private pilots are unfounded. He said private pilots would be able to fly through the airspace. He said aviation would be safer because the military has radar coverage that will keep track of airplanes.
"There's no reason to avoid these areas," he said.
The Marine Corps is seeking two blocks of airspace, called military operating areas, from 3,000 feet to 18,000 feet above the ground. The two areas, which total about 900 square miles, would link with existing military airspace in the center of the coast.
One 3-by-35-mile block lies over Core Banks in Cape Lookout National Seashore in Carteret County. Brown said that airspace is needed so jets can fly at high speeds from the ocean into training areas. Currently, jets below 10,000 feet have to slow to 250 mph. That's like hitting a speed bump, he said, because jets can fly faster at sea and in the adjacent restricted area in Pamlico Sound.
A second area would be established in an irregular block, about 25 by 30 miles, over portions of Beaufort, Hyde, Pamlico, Tyrrell and Washington counties.
Brown said the Marine Corps needs the additional airspace so training can be moved from restricted areas that are congested. He said pilots will not perform "heavy-duty dogfights." Instead, he said, they will practice maneuvers such as flying in formation and doing rolls or upside-down flights.
Those maneuvers are not practical over the ocean, he said, because pilots need to see the ground so they don't become disoriented.
Limited use
Brown said military pilots will use a certain portion of the airspace for a set amount of time, say 45 minutes, and then leave. He said air traffic controllers know where airplanes are at all times and can keep them away from other aircraft.
"You're not going to see dozens of airplanes and dozens and dozens of flights a day," he said.
Marine officials said more of the military flights are higher than 10,000 feet and that noise on the ground would be loudest only a few minutes a day.
The Marine Corps has been seeking additional airspace for two decades. Earlier proposals that would have allowed jets to fly about 500 feet above ground encountered stiff objections from civilian pilots and area residents. The current proposals have become entangled in lawsuits over Navy plans to build an outlying landing field for combat jets in Washington County.
Environmental groups contend that the military should look at the cumulative harm from the landing field and additional airspace. The military contends the two proposals are not related.
Opposition from airports and civilian pilots grew more vocal last month when the FAA announced that it was reviewing the Marine Corps proposals for airspace. Critics said the review was not adequately publicized.
An FAA spokeswoman said Thursday that comments will be accepted through September.
The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association of Frederick, Md., an organization that claims 400,000 members, joined several regional airports opposing expansion of military airspace. The group told the FAA last week that more military airspace would limit flights severely southwest of Ocracoke Island.
Staff writer Jerry Allegood can be reached at (252) 752-8411 or jerrya@newsobserver.com.
http://newsobserver.com/news/story/1602877p-7808809c.html
Ellie