The Roanoke Times March 08, 2012

Virginia mountains help pilots train for combat

By Jeff Sturgeon

Fighter pilots bolt through the skies of Southwest Virginia thousands of times a year, punching sleek F-15s to more than 500 mph as they simulate sneaking over enemy lines.

Tracing a knot of military training routes over the region, they practice until as late as 10 at night in multimillion-dollar fighting machines about as long as a tractor-trailer and capable of destroying ground and air targets.

These U.S. forces, which helped dominate enemies in Iraq and other conflicts, train over the peaks and valleys here and in western North Carolina because these areas simulate Afghanistan and other rugged conflict zones better than anywhere else near Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in Goldsboro, N.C.

Pilots from Seymour Johnson, where the 4th Fighter Wing is based, flew the training routes near Roanoke 3,510 times last year, said Keavy Rake, deputy chief of public affairs at the base.

Rake said officials expect similar numbers of jet sorties this year. These runs "play a critical role in the training of F-15E aircrew and their preparation for combat operations worldwide," Rake said.

The 3,510 figure reflects sortie counts for what the military designates as training routes VR-041, VR-042 and VR-043, among the closest to Roanoke. That's only a snapshot of total fighter-jet training traffic, however, because military aircraft use more than a dozen air corridors in the region.

Each plane is occupied by a pilot and weapons systems officer. They barrel along air corridors as much as 10 miles wide and 70 to 100 miles long at high speed — and sometimes at low altitude — so pilots can practice the positioning required to evade enemy radar, according to globalsecurity.org, a news and information site about defense, space and security issues.

The military is especially interested in giving the pilots time at the controls of terrain-tracking radar and target-finding equipment designed into the advanced aircraft.

Decades ago, the military claimed airspace over Virginia and North Carolina for training jet pilots. Some middle-age area residents recall seeing them as children. The jets are so common that some people say they are mere background noise.

The flights remind Ferrum area resident Corey Basham that "we're fortunate to have such brave, talented men and women protecting us and our freedom."

But the roar of the aircraft bothers some people at work or during school.

Erica Joy, a singer/songwriter in Floyd County, endured jet roar when she lived northeast of Floyd near where three training routes form a triangle.

"I have a 2-year-old. She'd freak out it was so loud," she said.

Daryl Hatcher, public safety director for Franklin County, said the jet traffic raises no specific safety concern with him.

"I don't think that they're any more dangerous than other flights that occur," said Hatcher, who was nonetheless aware that his county was the site of the only recent F-15 crash in this area.

In 2004, an F-15 from Seymour Johnson ingested a vulture, caught fire and crashed on a farm in Franklin County. A pilot and weapons officer parachuted out safely. No one on the ground was hurt. The aircraft, which was destroyed, had a value of $42.4 million, a report on the investigation said.

Pilots are required to stay at least 500 feet in the air and receive written guidance to avoid specific sites such as the National Radio Astronomy Observatory at Green Bank, W.Va., by 4 miles before coming south into Virginia.

Written instructions then tell pilots to avoid the Radford Army Ammunition plant by at least 1,000 feet. Electrical lines, agricultural silos, historic structures and known concentrations of wildlife are marked off-limits. The planes carry no live weapons and do not dump excess fuel, Rake said.

Admiring the aircraft has become a passion for many. But because the planes come and go unannounced, with no identifiable pattern, seeing one is by chance.

At the Hanging Rock Raptor Observatory near the West Virginia line, the jets sometimes pass at eye level.

"If you stop and think about it," plane and wildlife buff Brian Hirt of Alleghany County said by email, "this type aircraft and raptors share a lot of similarities â? like speed, agility and domination of the sky. I suppose that's why so many military aircraft and raptors share the same names and I get such enjoyment watching them in flight."