Work at Chesapeake runway means more jets in Va. Beach

The "sound of freedom" is about to change - and whether that's for better or worse probably depends on where you live.

Starting today, Fentress Naval Auxiliary Landing Field in Chesapeake, the main site local Navy pilots use to hone their landing skills, will be closed for repairs for at least nine months. While its runway is being fixed, residents of rural western Chesapeake will get a break from the repetitive roar of jet engines.

In the interim, fighter pilots stationed at Oceana Naval Air Station in Virginia Beach will practice landing maneuvers elsewhere - including at Oceana.

Capt. Jim Webb, Oceana's commanding officer, said residents living near the Navy's East Coast master jet base probably won't notice the change until the new year because few squadrons will be doing work-ups in the coming weeks.

Pilots at Oceana occasionally do touch-and-go maneuvers on the base's four intersecting runways, Webb said. But typically, most of the air traffic consists of jets leaving for and returning from training missions over the ocean or the Dare County Bombing Range in North Carolina.

That's going to change while Fentress is offline. At various times over the next nine months, some of Oceana's 17 squadrons will do the aerial equivalent of running around the block: As many as five jets at a time will take off in quick succession and fly in a left-handed, oval pattern. Each will touch down on the runway briefly, then climb back above 1,000 feet, circle around, land and take off again - eight times in a row. Each set will take between 45 minutes and an hour.

"If somebody is sitting on the ground here, they would count an airplane going over them 40 times in an hour," Webb said.

The landing practice won't be constant, but while it lasts, it will likely be more intense than usual for people who live or work nearby.

"Instead of having the occasional, 'I see four airplanes kind of stacked up here,' now there's going to be five airplanes, and they're just going to be circling, and circling, and circling," Webb said.

Navy officials met with Virginia Beach leaders to brief them on the increased activity at Oceana. Three periods - each three weeks long - are expected to be particularly busy as Oceana squadrons prepare to practice or deploy aboard an aircraft carrier. Webb said the busy times are expected to occur in late March/early April, June and September, but it's possible the work at Fentress will be finished before September.

City officials are emphasizing that the change is temporary.

"We've got to sit back and realize we're going to go through a little pain while they fix Fentress," Beach Mayor Will Sessoms said. "We as a city have always made sacrifices for the Navy."

The Navy emphasizes that pilots will be sacrificing, too, by leaving their families to practice elsewhere shortly before they head out on deployment.

Cmdr. Phil Rosi, a spokesman for Naval Air Forces Atlantic, said the Navy will send six detachments of Oceana pilots and support personnel to do field carrier landing practice in Florida while Fentress is closed.

Each detachment will last a week to 10 days, with at least 20 jets and 40 pilots from Oceana relocating temporarily.

In addition, student pilots at Oceana will sometimes fly to Beaufort, S.C., to practice landings there, Rosi said.

"We are trying to minimize the impact on the community," he said.

Residents around Oceana are taking news of the increased activity in stride.

"I'm not really going to complain about it," said Sam Reid, an Oceana Gardens resident and School Board member. "The folks around here are just kind of used to it. This happens from time to time with increased flight patterns. When it happens, it happens."

The impact will vary depending on the time of year. The direction of the wind determines which runways pilots use, so landing patterns are different in winter and summer.

During the winter, pilots primarily use two parallel runways oriented toward the northwest, with the most noise from landing practice likely to occur in the industrial areas south of Oceana and on the base itself. In the summer, pilots switch to approaching Oceana from the southwest or northeast, which places them over Lynnhaven Parkway and the Owls Creek/Seatack neighborhoods.

The June period may pose a special challenge for squadrons at Oceana, which try to finish flight operations by 10 p.m. It doesn't get fully dark until after 8:30 p.m., making it difficult for more than a handful of pilots to do a full landing practice session.

Webb said there might be times this summer when Oceana's jets are practicing until midnight. He emphasized that's not a decision anyone takes lightly. Having a squadron fly until midnight two times - instead of incurring the cost of traveling to Pensacola, Fla. - might be worth it, he said.

Oceanfront hotelier Jimmy Capps said he doesn't expect tourists will be fazed by the increased jet noise.

"The comment that I always get from our guests is they want to know what's going on," he said. "When I explain to them that there's a master jet base three miles from here, and they're training for their missions, they say, 'So be it.' "

Some jet noise veterans say they've learned to live with the hassle.

"It's going to be an annoyance," said Joe Ferrara, who lives near Oceana in the Cheltenham Square neighborhood. "How could it not? But we bought with full knowledge we were next to Oceana."

Ferrara suggested people take measures to shut out the noise.

"Common sense prevails. If it's loud, close your windows. Close your doors. That will reduce the noise by orders of magnitude. A lot of people stand outside and complain or they call the base. It's right now a fact of life: We live next door to a master jet base."

Kate Wiltrout, (757) 446-2629, kate.wiltrout@pilotonline.com

Aaron Applegate, (757) 222-5122, aaron.applegate@pilotonline.com