Residents Of Maine Gearing Up For Third Fight Against Noise, Hazards To GA

As government agencies look for ever more ways to tighten national security, there is increasing push-back from citizens unwilling to let precautions against hypothetical, once-in-a-lifetime scenarios degrade their lives 365 days a year. Such a case is unfolding in Maine, where Governor Paul LePage has joined residents fighting an Air National Guard proposal for low-level F-15 (file photo shown) training flights in the mountains of Western Maine.

The location in question is code-named CONDOR, and the ANG wants the ceiling for its practice flights dropped from 7,000' to just 500', so F-15 pilots based at Otis AFB in Massachusetts can train there. The Maine Public Broadcasting Network (MPBN) reports a similar proposal in the early '90s was defeated by overwhelming opposition from local residents and legislators.

The idea resurfaced five years ago, and MPBN reports Col. Scott Rice of the Air National Guard's Eastern and Northeastern Airspace and Range Council called the low-altitude flights essential for combatting scenarios such as a Middle Eastern oil tanker sitting off the coast which turns out to be armed with a cruise missile. That scenario didn't sell in 2007. Now, in 2011, it looks as if residents are again refusing to buy the idea.

Part of the issue is the danger to small aircraft flying at low-altitude. In a letter to FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt, Governor LePage says F-15s at 500 feet would be a hazard to general aviation aircraft "darting to and fro on amphibious floats from lakes to the numerous small airports and private strips that dot the area."

For Democratic Congresswoman Chellie Pingree, who represents Maine's First Congressional District, it's also about the noise. "Here we are in a place where people come for the peace and quiet...It's the equivalent of standing next to a chainsaw or a jackhammer. It doesn't fit into the Maine landscape and it doesn't seem like it's a necessary thing to have happen here."

Governor LePage's press secretary, Adrienne Bennett, tells MPBN that the change, "in the governor's opinion, was based on a want not a need. That is why the governor opposes this particular change."

Opponents of the change note there is already an approved low-altitude training area in the Adirondack Mountains of New York State, where population densities are lower.

The Air National Guard has not yet produced an environmental impact statement for its plan. That's expected this fall.

FMI: www.ang.af.mil