Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 28, 1993 TAG: 9307280013
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LEIGH ALLEN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The Navy said the line would be a dangerous obstacle along two of its most popular low-level training routes.
Navy A-6 Intruders of Medium Attack (MAT) Wing One stationed in Virginia Beach - such as the one that crashed into a Craig County mountain Friday - practice maneuvers in the mountains to teach pilots to fly below enemy radar.
Lt. Commander Bob Kirk, who manages training routes for the attack wing, said that in 1992 the Navy flew more than 2,000 missions along VR 1751 and VR 1758, the two flight paths that cross the power line's proposed route.
"We believe it causes a safety flight issue and we have asked [Apco] to find a solution," Kirk said. "We would rather they build it somewhere else."
At issue is the discrepancy between how low pilots are told to fly and how low they actually fly. According to flight rules, the Navy's planes should not go any lower than 200 feet.
That's fine for Apco, which says the power line won't be that high. But MAT Wing One's former commander, Captain W.C. Chewning, warned Apco project engineers in 1991 that any line higher than 100 feet would be unacceptable.
The risk of a collision is real. In June 1992, a Navy F-14A Tomcat fighter on one of the two training routes struck a 200-foot power line near Claytor Lake in Pulaski County. The plane returned safely to its base.
Project engineer Carl Persing said the lines average 132 feet high. Building them lower than 100 feet would be impractical in mountainous terrain, he said.
Apco engineer Russell Stiff said he will inform the Federal Aviation Administration about the height of the line. The FAA will then decide what improvements, such as lights or bright orange balls, should be added to make the lines more visible to pilots. The Navy, Stiff said, can then decide whether it wants to alter its flight path.
But Kirk said the routes are irreplaceable. As population in the mountains increases, secluded training routes are becoming harder to find, he said. Many people who build quiet vacation homes in the mountains are often shocked to find jets thundering over their cottages at all hours of the day and night.
The disappointed vacationers often call their congressmen, who put pressure on the Navy to fly somewhere else, Kirk said. But these training routes in the Jefferson National Forest are ideal for the Navy because the area is sparsely populated.
Waiteville, W.Va, resident Richard Ettelson, who lives in a secluded area under one of the training routes, said he hopes Apco builds the line to intersect the routes in the New River Valley instead of in the mountains.
The Navy said that although the routes are technically "low-level," jets often climb high after crossing the Eastern continental divide so they don't disturb the cities in the New River Valley.
Though better for pilot safety, Apco project coordinators say the valley route is unacceptable for the power line because it passes close to, or right through, too many homes.
Additionally, an environmental impact study conducted by the Jefferson National Forest called pilot safety a "nonsignificant issue" among such topics as visual impact and wildlife.
Ben Johnson, an Apco consultant who is leading a team that will recommend a route for the power line, said his group has had to balance the impact of everything affected by the project. "The engineers will design a line that takes everything into consideration," he said. "We don't want to catch an A-6 any more than the Navy wants to."
by CNB