AF to expand training airspace in Dakotas - Air Force News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Air Force Times

AF to expand training airspace in Dakotas

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — The Air Force is looking to quadruple the airspace in which it can it can conduct training exercises with its B-1 and B-52 bombers stationed in the Dakotas.

The proposal would allow more military pilots to train locally, but some civilian pilots are concerned about the additional air traffic, and some ranchers worry flyovers by low-flying, 146-foot-long aircraft will spook their cattle.

The Powder River Training Complex, centered just northwest of where South Dakota, Wyoming and Montana meet, now spans about 6,000 square miles.

The space can accommodate only one or two bombers at a time, so some B-1B Lancers from South Dakota’s Ellsworth Air Force Base and B-52 Stratofortress bombers from North Dakota’s Minot Air Force Base have had to fly as far as Nevada for their combat exercises, said George Stone, Ellsworth’s airspace manager.

“You’re going anywhere from an hour, an hour-and-a-half away to do your training and then you come back,” Stone said.

The Air Force says the expanded area would help pilots practice bomb runs, defensive maneuvers and evasive actions used in Iraq and Afghanistan. It’s drawing up a proposal asking the Federal Aviation Administration to add three “military operation areas” to create a fly space of about 25,000 square miles — or roughly the size of West Virginia. The area would include a portion of southwestern North Dakota and new parts of northwestern South Dakota and southeastern Montana.

The Air Force also could conduct larger-scale training exercises in the space, although they would be limited to no more than one every three months. Those exercises could include fighter jets from Sioux Falls, Montana and other parts of the country.

B-1 and B-52 bombers in training can descend as low as 500 feet, the same height Larry Nelson flies his Piper Cub over his two ranches in southwestern Harding County to check on cattle, fences and lurking coyotes.

One of those ranches is inside the current Powder River complex, and cruising along at 90 mph and seeing a giant aircraft racing toward him at 600 mph can be a scary situation, Nelson said.

“You’re kind of lucky if you see them in time to get out of their way,” he said.

Aircraft flying above 18,000 feet are in air traffic controlled airspace. Those flying below 18,000 feet can enter military operations areas, but civilian and military pilots must be on the lookout for each other, Stone said. Bombers can’t swerve like fighter jets, but their pilots can take evasive action if they see a small plane, he said.

Grove Rathbun, a former rancher, former Air National Guard pilot and president of the South Dakota Pilots Association, said he personally supports the expansion though the organization has not taken a formal stance.

Pilots can call the FAA to find out if anyone is using the airspace before they head out, he said.

“I think it can be worked around by notification,” said Rathbun, of Rapid City.

The original Powder River airspace will continue to be used the most, as the boundary contains ground-based emitters that simulate enemy radar and systems, Stone said. Pilots can’t drop bombs in the Powder River area, but they would be allowed to release magnesium flares and chaff, a countermeasure made of aluminum-covered silica fibers.

Nelson said he’s concerned about a flare hitting one of his natural gas wells or sparking a grass fire, and he worries about how falling debris will affect sheep that are lambing.

“Having airplanes thunder over the top of them at 500 feet dropping magnesium flares and chaff is not going to be conducive to a good lamb crop,” he said.

Stone said flares deployed at 500 feet either burn out before they reach the ground or are a dud, but the Air Force won’t use them at less than 2,000 feet to be extra cautious. And if fire danger in the Black Hills increases, the Air Force could raise the ceiling further or stop releasing flares, he said.

Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., has said the expansion would help keep Ellsworth among the Air Force’s elite bases and well positioned to attract new missions.

Montana’s delegation has expressed concern about the effects on flight patterns of medical and other small aircraft.

The military is considering such concerns and others raised during last summer’s public meetings, Stone said.

The Air Force plans to submit its proposal to the Federal Aviation Administration around the first of the year. It also is developing a draft environmental impact statement, which it hopes to have ready for another round of public meetings later this year.