Tell governor to support landing strip
Counterpoint:
By Donald H. Brown
Last summer, then-Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue joined then-Gov. Mike Easley and the residents of Camden and Gates counties in opposition to a proposed landing strip to be used by eight new squadrons of the F/R-18 Super Hornets plus two squadrons at Cherry Point Marine Corps Air Station near New Bern.
However, during Perdue’s campaign for election she continued to state how hard she had worked to keep the total military presence in North Carolina. This flip-flop was essential for her to win the election for governor of North Carolina.
Hidden in all of this politicking was the intended use of this innocent-looking landing strip.
The strip was to be built for the sole purpose of training and retraining Navy and Marine jet pilots in carrier landings.
My brother, retired Lt. Cmdr. Richard B. Brown, flew 200-plus missions over Vietnam from the carrier Coral Sea during the Vietnam War. He stated that the most dangerous thing in flying off carriers is coming back from a mission late at night during a storm and short of gas. Only the best-trained could handle this dangerous portion of Naval air operations.
Now we have Gov. Perdue challenging the U.S. Navy, as reported, by signing a proposed law that denies the U.S. Navy permission to build a practice landing runway for Navy and Marine carrier pilots.
How many Navy and Marine pilots will be lost through the lack of training this facility would provide?
I urge all who read this article to immediately write Gov. Perdue and ask her to change her position and support this vital training facility.
The writer lives in Greensboro.
Comments (6)
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Dan will mainline some Viagra before he approaches this one...
Posted on May 1, 2009 4:25 AM
There's an abandoned WWII Airfield at Atlantic, NC in Carteret County that is federally owned and is surrounded by light density development and marsh. Why can't this airfield be upgraded to standards and used for training purpose?
Posted on May 1, 2009 8:29 AM
I'm missing something. If Gov. Perdue doesn't agree to put the landing strip in NC, pilots will die? Does that mean pilots are dying today because there isn't a landing strip here right now? I don't see the connection.
Posted on May 1, 2009 9:39 AM
The real reason for wanting a NE NC landing strip is so that the pilots leaving out of Oceana NAS can make their ToGo's in the morning and be back to the base for lunch.
Moving it farther away means they have to eat later.
Then there's the whole fuel cost thing. I'd like to see the breakdown on how much it costs to fly an additional 250 miles per trip as compared to the cost of acquiring and building a new facility as well as compared to using the old strip in Atlantic, NC.
Posted on May 1, 2009 10:04 AM
Barack Obama personally put a hold on building any new landing strip. He claims that constant mental tracking of every Air Force, Marine, Navy, Army and Coast Guard aircraft is too stressful and fears that a new runway will mean planes in the sky at any given time.
What a pansy.
Posted on May 1, 2009 10:35 AM
The strip was planned for an area hosting 250,000 30 lb birds every winter. BASH, the Joint Bird Strike Task Force, did a study that stated with near certainly that the odds were around 100% of a fatal bird-aircraft interaction. If you've never seen 100,000 snow geese or tundra swans take off at once, you won't understand the risk.
Navy pilots speaking anonymously, including one full admiral that I know personally, said that the landing strip plans were "insane."
The landing strip move was supported by our patriotic citizens near NAS Oceana who, while they love freedom, oppose military operations than ensure it.
"How many Navy and Marine pilots will be lost through the lack of training this facility would provide?"
I can answer this definitively: zero. They can continue to use the facilities at Oceana. Either the writer is unaware of the actual facts and logistics of Naval air operations, which is likely, or has an agenda or will benefit from the lunatic placement of the OLF in the middle of a bird sanctuary.
Your brother is a hero. I especially appreciate my fellow Navy vets. Have you spoken with him about the particulars of the OLF and its location? Is he aware that the Navy's original assessment of its location was "too dangerous"? The Navy only changed its mind after heavy political pressure from MOCs whose constituents are near NAS Oceana and want the Navy to protect them so long as they do it somewhere else and quietly. They wanted only an OLF in NC because if the squadron(s) were moved they would lose the revenues generated by their presence. In other words, they are perfectly willing to take advantage of a Navy presense, just not the noise.
I grew up near the end of a USAF runway (RAFB) for F-15s. I love jet noise when its made by those defending my liberty. But that's just me.
Posted on May 1, 2009 5:28 PM