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| Fort Pickett sits on 42,000 acres and is used as a training site by Army, Marine Corps and special forces troops. It is controlled by the Virginia National Guard and located about 100 miles northwest of Virginia Beach. (U.S. Army) |
By Dale Eisman
The Virginian-Pilot
WASHINGTON - Under pressure from U.S. Sen. John Warner, the Navy's top civilian apparently agreed Friday to consider using a former Army base near Petersburg as the practice landing field for Oceana Naval Air Station's aircraft.
How seriously the service will look at Fort Pickett, a sprawling facility now controlled by the Virginia National Guard, remained unclear. An aide to Navy Secretary Donald Winter said the service "appreciates Sen. Warner's ongoing support of our selection process" but promised only to "consider and evaluate" any "new information" about locations that might meet its requirements for the field.
The carefully worded statement issued by Capt. Beci Brenton, Winter's spokeswoman, did not mention Fort Pickett directly.
It came a day after another Navy official told The Virginian-Pilot that the base, about 100 miles northwest of Virginia Beach, would not be a viable location for the proposed outlying landing field.
"I would appreciate the Navy clarifying its earlier statements," Warner, R-Va., told Winter in a letter released Friday night.
The senator's office distributed the one-paragraph note several hours after Warner and Winter spoke by phone about the OLF issue.
Warner, a former secretary, said Friday that "the Navy is very respectful of my views," but he added that "I'm careful to always say, 'You make your decision in the best interests of national defense and the nation and you've got my support.' "
The Navy says it's looking only for a landing strip.
However, worries that suburban sprawl will ultimately force the service to abandon Oceana have sparked speculation that the OLF could be a precursor to the development of a new master jet base for the East Coast.
The Navy fueled that speculation by initially seeking up to 30,000 acres for the OLF. The service says now that as few as 13,000 acres could be sufficient.
Navy leaders have been studying several North Carolina sites for the field and until Thursday appeared committed to a tract of land in Washington County, N.C., roughly halfway between Oceana and the Marine Corps air station at Cherry Point, N.C.
But after Sen. Elizabeth Dole, R-N.C., threw her support Thursday behind resident s groups fighting the Washington County site, Winter issued a statement welcoming efforts to find other possible sites.
Fort Pickett sits on 42,000 acres near Blackstone, along U.S. 460 west of Petersburg. It is frequently used as a training site by Army, Marine Corps and special forces troops. Blackstone Army Airfield at Fort Pickett has two runways, one 4,000 feet long and another more than 4,600 feet long. A Navy spokesman suggested Thursday that the presence of unexploded ordnance near the airfield and extensive use of Fort Pickett for special forces training would make the base unsuitable for the Navy's needs.
Whatever site is selected would replace Fentress Field in Chesapeake, where Navy officials say the development of suburban homes and businesses now restricts their ability to conduct realistic training.
While Warner pushed the case for Fort Pickett on Friday, his junior colleague, U.S. Sen. Jim Webb, a Democrat, wasn't ready to join him.
In an appearance in Norfolk, Webb said he is willing to see what other locations Dole and North Carolina propose for the facility.
Staff writer Kate Wiltrout contributed to this report.
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Thr Navy is the Encroacher
It absolutely amazes me how some people think that
developers are encroaching on the Navy. Another common ignorant opinion is that people moved to an area next to Oceana and started complainig about noise that was always there. It is the Navy that is doing the encroaching.Their operations have changed and they have outgrown their current facilities and need more space. Unfortunately for them they did not have the foresight to buy the land that they now want to control and or take via Emminent Domain. Their current proposal to the farm owners in Eastern NC is typical of their mode of operations. " You can keep your land but we get to tell you what you can do with it." Gee how benevolent of them. Same thing they are already doing in Virginia Beach and Chesapeake. They are morally and ethically corrupt . They have no respect for a citizen's propery rights. I would like to see some of the Navy cheerleaders on these boards volunteer to give up their homes and land for the jets.
You Broke It - You Buy It
Fentress was Oceana's training field. Now Fentress is unsuitable because of development? Whose problem is that? Not NC - it's VA and the Navy's problem.
You broke it, you buy it. The encroachment should have stopped long ago ... blinded by $$. now it will cost you more to fix it. Quit exporting your mistakes. We aren't buying.
A Better Choice
No one is asking the Navy to stop training, compromise training or end it all together. Just find a more appropriate place. I must disagree with Amy, the first place they chose is a NC property attatched to Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge. Land already set aside way before this issue as a sanctuary for migrating birds. It houses tens of thousands of migrating birds every year and is set aside to give wildlife a safe haven. The OLF there would not only negate the very purpose of the refuge, but they also suggested " taking normal airport precautions" to ensure pilot safety. Which when later researched meant the killing of all birds within a specified radius to protect pilots. I agree pilots should be protected from wandering birds, but, not in a Wildlife Refuge. That seems to defeat the purpose. Development didnt cause them to choose that site, they just decided it was a good idea until people started to speak up. There are other places availiable.
Our Military needs our help
Why is everyone so opposed to jets flying around our back yards. No-one complains about Norfolk Int. Airport noise. Let the Navy/Marine Corps pilots have their OLF. I would rather hear their jets flying around then some other country's jets on a bombing run thru our town. A suggestion I might throw into the ring would be to use one of our recently decommissioned carriers as an OLF. CV's 59,60,61,62,67 are all just sitting around in mothballs awaiting their fate as a museum or worst...another sink-ex like USS America (CV-66). What better way to train our naval aviators to land on a carrier than the real thing. Just anchor it off the coast, have a small detachment crew and LSO's onboard to cover the flight-ops and it could be a perfect solution for practice approaches and bounces. Another plus is no-one can complain about that sound of freedom. Either way, the military will always have my support and respect. Give our boys and girls the training and tools they need.
Simply Amazing
I find it amazing that people will whine, moan, groan and complain about the military "invading" their space, yet the Navy is being pushed out by developers. Clearly this means the Navy had the site before developers moved in and have now made the proper training of our pilots more difficult, if not impossible. No one wants to be near a military training facility, but yet they want to take advantage of the freedom defended by our men and women in uniform. I hope the Navy decides to use their original planned destination in NC, and let the others remind themselves that the sounds they hear are the sounds of freedom being protected.
OLF Landing Field
I wonder if the powers that be have even remotely considered reactivating a closed OLF near Atlantic N.C. or another near Trenton N.C. for possible usage to meet their needs? The Atlantic site is probably 30-40 miles NE of Cherry Point and within a few miles of the sound.
Senator Dole & Senator Warner
Senator Dole and Senator Warner,please butt out and let the Navy do their job! Politics should not enter into the discussion between the Navy and Washington Co. N.C..