F-22 Plus-Up Environmental Assessment - Joint Base Elmendorf ...

F-22 Plus-Up Environmental Assessment
4.0 Environmental Consequences
use. None of the training activities within Alaskan SUA would be expected to result in any
changes to airspace management from those existing for the F-22 training. The mitigations in
the 1995 MOA EIS ROD still apply (Air Force 1995). During studies conducted as part of the
MOA EIS, it was found that dissemination of information is an important element in explaining
airspace management and use.
Alaska residents, including Alaska Natives, have expressed concerns that military aircraft
training could potentially conflict with small aircraft serving communities under special use
airspace. Enhanced F-22 electronics and situational awareness reduce risks of conflicts with
general aviation. Existing awareness and avoidance procedures implemented by the Air Force,
and standard FAA flight rules are designed to prevent airspace conflicts. These FAA rules
require that all pilots are responsible to apply “see and avoid” techniques when operating an
aircraft. To reduce the potential for airspace conflicts, JBER continues to schedule MFEs in
training airspace to avoid the high recreation period from the 27 th of June to the 11 th of July.
MFEs are also not scheduled during January, September, or December.
4.1.3 No Action
Existing terminal airspace, MOA, range, and other airspace usage would not change with the
No Action. F-22s would continue to train from JBER-Elmendorf and continue to train in the
airspace as they do today.
4.2 Noise
This section describes noise impacts associated with the proposed F-22 plus-up in the area near
JBER-Elmendorf and in military training airspace units. Impacts are assessed by comparing
noise conditions under the Proposed Action and the No Action Alternative to baseline
conditions.
4.2.1 Base Environmental Consequences
Noise levels near JBER-Elmendorf were calculated using the
established and tested noise program, NOISEMAP. Under the
Proposed Action, all operational procedures currently in effect,
including noise-related operational restrictions, runway usage
patterns, and approach and departure procedures, would remain
in effect. These procedures include use of Runway 34
(northbound crosswind runway) for approximately 25 percent of
The increase of F-22 aircraft with the
plus-up results in 16.7 percent more
F-22s being based at JBER-
Elmendorf. The additional personnel
capability at JBER-Elmendorf would
be expected to proportionately
increase the F-22 sorties.
F-22 departures. The runway typically used for F-22 arrivals is runway 06 (eastbound main
runway). To represent F-22 operations under the Proposed Action for the purposes of noise
modeling, current F-22 aircraft operations were increased by the proportion of additional F-22
plus-up aircraft. This would result in an average of approximately five additional daily F-22
sorties.
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