Every shot makes somebody happy:
A South Carolina congressman has stepped up efforts to convince the Navy to move fighter jet squadrons from Virginia to Beaufort Marine Corps Air Station.
U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., says the Marine base has the space to accommodate F-18 Hornets from Oceana Naval Air Station should the Navy decide the base has become too crowded by development.
The competition for Oceana’s operations has continued even though Florida this month rejected a return to the former Cecil Field Naval Air Station.
I wonder what that news is doing for the Beaufort real estate market?
Seriously though, the issue of encroachment at Oceana and at Fentriss, it’s outlying field where carrier practice landings occur is not going away. Developers have built McMansions up to the base fence and on high-risk approach and departure corridors, then shown and sold them to ingenues on weekends (when no one is flying) who then turn about and complain about all the noise. A recent base closure and re-alignment commission re-ignited the issue by calling out the suburban press, and the Jacksonville voters have moved on since Cecil Field closed down in Florida – they’re not interested either, not with the bill that with bringing the Navy back.
“Not in my backyard,” is the usual cry, even as people move their backyards to approach the nuisance. But Beaufort, South Carolina is throwing open their arms in southern hospitality even though the move would cost someone north of $500 million in capital improvements to host the new squadrons. Which, considering the $770 million annual payroll that such a move would bring, might be a smart investment for a sleepy southern town looking for a little of the federal.
WTF, was BRAC thinking in the 90′s? That stupid “Peace Dividend”?
I still wonder how the Navy could give up Cecil Field, while ol’ Virginny was filling up?
Same with building at Everett, WA, while Alameda was in use and still viable.
Effing politicians…
The Congress Critters will probably build a Naval Air Station in Nebraska, to take up the Oceana slack.
Captain, I was at NTU in the mid 70?
Captain, I was at NTU in the mid 70’s and from what I have read, it has only gotten worse. Fentress was closed for a period of time to resurface and install deck lights. This led to two things, one the people that had started moving into the old city of VA Bch surrounding Oceana were hearing all the birds bouncing at home plate. THEN when Fentress reopened guess what, there was a brand new subdivision, damn near right up to the runway. Can I say a good time was had by all? As a young 3rd and 2nd Class, I did a lot of Asst Air ODO watches whose main job was taking the noise complaints. It got to the point that more than 2 complaints shut the bounce period down. We then had video maps done for the radar and had to have someone monitor the patterns at both places. The Skipper at the time, I don’t remember which one, made himself a pain with city hall trying to keep the development to a small tidal wave with no success. I was also in the tower when an A-6 was dumped in just about the center of what is now Lynnhaven Mall and an F14 torched an engine on takeoff and went in right off Lynnhaven Rd at the field boundary before he could bring it back. Since then I have heard of only one accident off field and that was the A-6 that hit the car on Oceana Blvd. When I was there the approaches to Rwy 5 and Rwy 32 were “relatively” uncluttered and we used them to the maximum for normal and emergency operations but there are times that we HAD to use either 23 or 14 and those runway approaches even then were virtually unusable. I mean it is bad when your GCA 3 mile centerline marker for a runway is a hotel! The city and base has been very lucky. It is only a matter of time until something catastrophic happens again. To the best of my knowledge the Navy has tried to be a decent if not good neighbor and has been thwarted at every turn by the city and their greed. The city recently has begun slowing the growth but the horse is long gone. What is the solution? Other than moving the base I have no idea. Moving the base leads to another question, WHERE?????
In the black shoe Navy, in Alameda (anywhere in the bay area), going on liberty in uniform is asking to get spat upon. Not so in Everett. I say build a base where you’re wanted…screw the cities that can’t handle having a military uniform on the street.
I recently read another proposal where Cherry Point would take all of Oceana’s hornets. I believe one or two superhornet squadrons are supposed to be located there by the end of the decade per a previous agreement. It did not say what would happen to the squadrons currently based at Cherry Point.
+’s
*They’re wanted
*They’ll put up local $$ (a new one for me)
-’s
* Airspace- too small. Draw stright line from NY to Disney World. look down.
* No outlying field.
More likely- Meridian or maybe the panhandle (local congressman has made similar pitch)….
Hornet games.
B2
An F-14 went down east of Miramar NAS in the Scripps Ranch (Camp Elliot?) area an hour ago on landing. Pilot ejected and survived. No reports of home damage, but there is a brushfire.
oops. Should be “landing ATTEMPT.”
ARGGGHHH! Old habits die hard. It’s MCAS now, not NAS. *rolling eyes at self*
Oh, and I suspect if the wording of the vote on our ballot here in Jax had said, “with all funding coming from the federal governmet”, the vote would have been much different. I know that I support the Navy coming back to Cecil…but not with 90% of the cost coming back to the people the Navy turned their backs on.
Fbl,
An F-14???? went down?
Fbl,
I believe you meant F/A-18. Pilot appears to be alright.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/11/30/jet.crash.ap/index.html
Dang! Add to the above another typo/brain cramp. I was thinking 18. Really, I was.
Okay, I’ve made enough of a fool of myself for the day. I think I’ll just stop typing now.
The NAS OCEANA problem really is of the Navy’s own making. The BRAC folks had singled out NAS CECIL as their prefered Master Jet location. The community was willing, the airfield being well west of any forseen development and there was loads of land that would be offered as a noise barrier.
But the CNO staff invited BRAC to a classified briefing and convinced them that NAS OCEANA had important and SECRET reasons to be “saved”. That killed CECIL. Now Cecil has had some State and local funding and is slowly starting on its way to becoming a successful civil aviation complex. I can understand why the folks in JAX voted to close the door.
Not a lot of undeveloped real estate anywhere near the coasts, so it will boil down to competing priorities, and defense is not high on most people’s (of local governments’) agendas when they can build tax paying housing developments. Back in the days of “Strategic Home Porking” (err- PORTING) there were modest attempts made at costly development of very basic infrastructure for a few surface combatants in various places that went over fairly well. But, they don’t make as much noise, or suffer from things falling off aircraft like our brown shoe brethern’s vehicles. Based on past patterns, look for an NAS coming soon to places in Nevada (NAS Reid), West Virginia (NAS Byrd) or maybe Virginia’s new Sen. Webb may salvage something for his state. (He was not a BAD SECNAV.) Interesting times indeed.
They did the same thing with MCAS El Toro. It’d been there since the 40′s(and we loved it when the Angels came to town. Somewhere I have a polaroid of a 12 yr old Ry garbed as a pilot with his name stenciled on the side of an A-4 I had taken there.). Then OC became rich and they built right up onto the main gates. Closed it down and moved it all to Miramar (where I’m told that the same complaints have started up again.). As the old saw goes, ‘As California goes so goes the nation.’
Gawd I hope not. If this keeps up the only place you’ll be allowed to have an MCAS/NAS/AFB will be out in stix in the Dakotas where nobody lives.
Heard in my shop when mil activity shuts down airspace along the eastern periphery of the Lant warning areas….
“WHY can’t they take their games someplace else!?”
There are shortsighted folks everywhere it seems…
MMMMM Beaufort. Talk about a retention tool! NOT!!!!
Nose
Never did understand closing Cecil – 15 miles west of town, surrounded by nothing but pine trees, 4 runways with 360 degree approach corridors. A crash would cause a forest fire but zero “collateral damage.”
Politics as usual. Close the one field that had everything a jet base needs.