CAA: GA News, "Civilian pilots say ‘dark’ flights endanger shared skyways"

["Stephen Irwin" <stepheni@cwnet.com>]

Friday, April 14, 2000

Osprey flew with no lights
Civilian pilots say ‘dark’ flights endanger shared skyways
By Tim Steller
The Arizona Daily Star


The Marine Corps apparently violated federal air regulations by flying with
lights off during the military exercise that ended Saturday night in a crash
at a Marana airport.

Federal Aviation Administration spokesmen in the Seattle regional office and
in Washington, D.C., said officials could find no Marine Corps request for a
waiver from the regulations that govern civilian airspace. Those regulations
require aircraft to fly with lights on during nighttime hours.

The apparent violation says nothing about the cause of the crash, which
killed 19 Marines. But such flights raise the ire of some civilian pilots,
who say they can be put at risk by lights-out flights in unrestricted
airspace.

“Since this is shared airspace, it makes absolutely no sense for the
aircraft to operate at night without lights, where we can’t see them,” said
Warren Morningstar, vice president for communications of the Aircraft Owners
and Pilots Association.

Gunnery Sgt. Nathan Portman said that as a policy the Marine Corps Air
Station in Yuma requests waivers from FAA regulations when planning to fly
with lights out in shared airspace.

“Whether or not there was a waiver in this particular case is information I
do not have,” Portman said.

Saturday’s exercise originated at the Yuma station. Four MV-22 Ospreys were
among 30 aircraft taking part in the broader exercise, Lt. Gen. Fred
McCorkle, the head of Marine Corps aviation, said Tuesday.

The four Ospreys were scheduled to land at Marana Northwest Regional Airport
Saturday night during an exercise in evacuating civilians from a hostile
foreign country.

The Ospreys, which can take off and land like helicopters but fly like
airplanes, approached the airport around 8 p.m. with lights out and the
crews using night vision goggles, said Capt. Rob Winchester, a Marine Corps
spokesman in Washington, D.C.

Picture Rocks resident Harold Dean said he saw one of the aircraft fly low
over his house with lights out minutes before the crash.

 “I saw the shadow moving away, but I couldn't tell what it was,” Dean said.

The first two Ospreys were hovering less than 200 feet above the airport
when one of the pair crashed, McCorkle said. It was the third-deadliest air
crash in Arizona history.

Since the Marana airport is public, it is available to any pilot, civilian
or military, 24 hours a day. The airport has no control tower, and pilots
can turn the runway lights on or off from the air by using their radios.

Marana’s government manages that airport, and Town Manager Mike Hein said
the airport’s manager was notified of the Marines’ intent to use the airport
for its April 8 exercise.

But Prescott’s Automated Flight Service Station, which covers the state of
Arizona, received no notices to pilots about the exercise until 8:25 p.m.
Saturday. Then, after the Osprey crashed, a notice came in saying the
airport was closed.

The FAA urges, but does not mandate, that pilots check these notices before
flights, said FAA spokesman Mitch Barker in Seattle.

The Marines’ apparent violation would not cause the FAA to start a separate
investigation of the April 8 crash, said FAA spokesman Paul Turk in
Washington, D.C.

“The military investigates its own accidents,’’ he said. “We would be
consulting with the military about any violations.”

Lights-out flying by the military has been a concern of the aircraft owners
association and the military. Last year, the Air Force asked to be allowed
to fly lights-out in military operating areas without special permission, a
request the association lobbied against.

These areas, known as MOAs, are airspace that the military and civilians
share, governed both by FAA regulations and by those of the military base
that uses the area.

In any given encounter, “The obligation is on both pilots to see and avoid
other aircraft,” Morningstar said. “If there is an aircraft operating
without lights, the other pilot can't see and avoid.”

The Air Force eventually withdrew its request, Turk said.

At Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, instructors and operating pilots frequently
fly A-10s using night vision goggles, but not during takeoffs and landings,
said Lt. Dani Burrows, a base spokeswoman. Students use them only about four
times during a four-to-five month training, she said.

In Southern Arizona and throughout the country, airspace is divided into
civilian airspace and special-use areas, said F.P. “Rusty” Arbeit, D-M’s
airspace manager. The main special-use areas are called restricted airspace
and military operating areas.

The restricted areas are governed by military rules, and civilian pilots
generally cannot enter them. The Barry M. Goldwater Air Force Range in
southwestern Arizona is an example, as is the airspace above Fort Huachuca.

The military operating areas are joint-use airspace, governed by both
military and FAA rules. Civilian pilots can fly into these areas, which
include most of the airspace above the Tohono O’odham Indian Reservation and
other parts of Southern Arizona.

The rest of the airspace, with some exceptions, is civilian. That includes
the area around the Marana airport where the crash occurred.

airspace.gif