Luke Field/Air Force Base and 56th Fighter Wing Heritage Pamphlet ...

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5 October 1999 Congress approved withdrawal of Goldwater Range from public
use for 25-year period. USAF/Navy took over range
management from Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Cabeza
Prieta Wilderness Area that made up third of range not
withdrawn. No effect on training as memorandum of
understanding with Department of Interior still allowed over
flights of area. Approval required compilation of Integrated
Natural Resources Management Plan and Integrated Cultural
Resources Management Plan.
31 December 1999 On-going shortage of pilots due to early separations/retirements,
resulted in plan to implement Associate F-16 Instructor Pilot
Program designed to reassign some wing Instructor Pilots to
operational units to alleviate pilot shortages, and augment wing's
dwindling Instructor Pilot force with active Guard, Reserve and
traditional Reserve Instructor Pilots.
4 January 2000 Mission of 21st Fighter Squadron changed from providing F-16
qualification training for Taiwan AF pilots to providing
proficiency training for pilots already qualified in jet.
25 January 2000 First Associate Instructor Pilot Program sortie flown with the
62d Fighter Squadron.
February 2000
Wing conducted first deployment in support of Expeditionary
Aerospace Force (EAF). Sent 75 personnel to Middle East. EAF
was asset management concept designed to protect US interests
in world hot spots by ensuring US presence in those areas.
3 March 2000 301st Fighter Squadron activated to implement associate
Instructor Pilot program. Unit assigned to 944th Fighter Wing,
but under operational control of 56th Operations Group.
8 March 2000 Luke produced 50,000th fighter training graduate since 1941 as
1st Lt Joshua G. Padgett completed basic course with 62d Fighter
Squadron.
17 April 2000 Senate Bill 1415 became law. It amended previous legislation,
and required attorney general to review mandatory reports from
cities for compatible land use planning. Gave attorney general
authority to penalize cities for non-compliance.
25 May 2000 Surprise officials' objections to developer's plan resulted in
dropping 700 homes from project and no homes planned in high
noise zones.
22 July 2000 Parts shortfall resulted in Saturday flying to meet programmed
flying training requirements.
5 August 2000 Parts shortages caused Saturday flying to meet training schedule.