D-M to Host 30 Guard F-16s Till TIA Work is Done

By AARON MACKEY

Noise to dial up for month; jets to follow rules

The skies above Davis- Monthan Air Force Base should be a bit noisier and more crowded for the next month.

Residents living near D-M should expect more noise after Labor Day weekend, when 30 F-16 Air National Guard fighter jets will use D- M’s runway temporarily.

Officials said the jets, part of the Guard’s 162nd Fighter Wing, will be moved from Tucson International Airport while maintenance crews finish paving the municipal airport’s main runway.

The fighter wing, which is primarily responsible for training F- 16 pilots, plans to use D-M for about a month, said Capt. Gabe Johnson, a Guard spokesman.

F-16s are known to be slightly louder aircraft than the A-10 fighters based at D-M, military officials have said.

Although the increased flights might irritate some residents, the Guard has taken steps to mitigate the noise, Johnson said.

Jets from the unit will fly only 14 days out of the month and will stay grounded at night and during weekends, according to a National Guard news release.

The jets also will abide by flight operations standards updated earlier this summer that raised the altitude of aircraft bound for D- M’s runway.

The standard requires jets to fly 2,800 feet high above Speedway, with aircraft dropping to 2,500 feet near Reid Park.

The jets drop down to 1,500 feet when they’re three miles away from D-M.

The F-16s’ stay at D-M could be short-lived if workers finish their work on TIA’s runway ahead of time, Johnson said.

It’s the second time since last August that the Guard jets had to move to D-M while TIA’s runway was repaved.

Summer storms delayed parts of the repaving effort last year, and TIA officials are now getting to complete the project, Johnson said.

The paving at TIA also will affect commercial and general aviation, according to an airport news release.

Commercial and general aviation flights will use the crosswind runway or the parallel runway until the paving is completed, the release said.

* Contact reporter Aaron Mackey at 573-4138 or at amackey@azstarnet.com.

Originally published by AARON MACKEY, ARIZONA DAILY STAR.

(c) 2007 Arizona Daily Star. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.