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NAS Oceana


rusthebuss

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BRAC wants to shut down Oceana because of encroachment. Does anyone honestly think that the FAA would give clearance to Oceana without also requiring condemnation of homes and businesses? And then there's the noise issue which the Navy doesn't care so much about but which the FAA will care a lot about. The FAA didn't give clearance for El Toro MCAS to be converted into an airport (although passenger loading/unloading counts in the L.A. area are nearing capacity) because of noise issues and homes being too close to the runways.

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BRAC wants to shut down Oceana because of encroachment. Does anyone honestly think that the FAA would give clearance to Oceana without also requiring condemnation of homes and businesses? And then there's the noise issue which the Navy doesn't care so much about but which the FAA will care a lot about. The FAA didn't give clearance for El Toro MCAS to be converted into an airport (although passenger loading/unloading counts in the L.A. area are nearing capacity) because of noise issues and homes being too close to the runways.

exactly the point I was trying to make.

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Houses would probably not have to be condemned if a civilian airport were to be placed at Oceana. The encroachment problem has more to do with the Navy's flight training mission. Noise levels should also be significantly lower with civil aircraft. But the regional airport plan is probably a moot point, even if it's an interesting idea. The Navy really does not want to leave Oceana, and the City wants them to stay here. The Inspector General had little choice in declaring the City not in compliance with the BRAC ruling--a letter of the law kind of thing with no room for interpretation. More reasonable action should and probably will prevail once a way is found to achieve it. I think the place will be home to Battlestar Galactica before it closes down (good show by the way if it returns).

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If ORF can't handle it then NN/WIA can handle the rest. It would be counter productive to make Oceana an airport!

But who from the south side would want to drive to that airport, especially during rush hour...

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But who from the south side would want to drive to that airport, especially during rush hour...

Why would they have to?

For 2005, ORF had almost 4 million passengers and 35,000 tons of cargo via 120,000 operations. By comparison, San Diego International had 17 million passengers and 150,000 tons of cargo via 220,000 operations. John Wayne in Orange County had 10 million passengers and 24,000 tons of cargo via 350,000 operations. Finally, PHF had 1 million passengers.

ORF has a 9000 ft runway and a perpendicular 4900 ft runway.

San Diego has a single 9400 ft runway.

John Wayne has a 5700 ft runway and a parallel 2900 ft runway.

PHF has an 8000 ft runway and a 6500 ft runway in a V-shape.

So, HR has 5 million passengers on 4 runways. No wonder the FAA didn't think ORF needed another parallel runway. The regional population would have to grow at least another half million ( it grew by 70,000 over the past 5 years meaning it would take 30 years to reach 500,000 growth via straight line projections) before the area even approaches 10 million total passengers.

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  • 3 months later...

we'll never get rid of oceana :angry: . They will just continue to stunt the ocean front's growth.

While I want to get rid of Oceana too, I at least want to wait till we're done with the Ford closure so that we're not hit all at once. This can be seen as good news for now.

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Hey everyone, Oceana has moved. According to CNN Newsroom this morning, Oceana is now located in Norfolk. They aired a segment about the retirement of the F-14 and the co-anchor twice said that the base was in Norfolk, Va. Unfortunately, the on-site correspondent didn't mention the location of the base. Must be classified. However, she did say that the Tomcat can carry 800 lbs of ordinance which the accompanying officer quickly corrected saying it is 8000 lbs. CNN can't get its facts straight. Fox News doesn't want to get its facts straight. What's left? MSNBC and its 5000 hours of Dateline and Headliners & Legends reruns?

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Hey everyone, Oceana has moved. According to CNN Newsroom this morning, Oceana is now located in Norfolk. They aired a segment about the retirement of the F-14 and the co-anchor twice said that the base was in Norfolk, Va. Unfortunately, the on-site correspondent didn't mention the location of the base. Must be classified. However, she did say that the Tomcat can carry 800 lbs of ordinance which the accompanying officer quickly corrected saying it is 8000 lbs. CNN can't get its facts straight. Fox News doesn't want to get its facts straight. What's left? MSNBC and its 5000 hours of Dateline and Headliners & Legends reruns?

:rofl: My mom's job is coordinating what the Air Force tells news agencies to report. She pretty much loathes CNN most of the time; for one, their people that work for the big anchors are difficult people to work with, and for two, they don't listen anyway. So oftentimes the military chooses to tell them very little or nothing :) (which in turn pisses them off).

Nevertheless, I do think it's a good thing Oceana is sticking around at least through this round. I agree vdogg, it'll soften the blow of Ford :(

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  • 1 month later...
  • 3 weeks later...

Here we go again :rolleyes:

South Carolina congressman has stepped up efforts to convince the Navy to move fighter jet squadrons from Virginia to Beaufort Marine Corps Air Station.

U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., says the Marine base has the space to accommodate F-18 Hornets from Oceana Naval Air Station should the Navy decide the base has become too crowded by development.

The competition for Oceana's operations has continued even though Florida this month rejected a return to the former Cecil Field Naval Air Station.

Virginia leaders are likely to spend more efforts to protect the Beach's largest employer.

Rep. Thelma Drake, a Republican from Virginia Beach, said Wednesday that a move would be expensive and unnecessary because the state has taken steps to ease encroachment around the base.

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Would Beaufort be a stop-gap solution?

NAS Lemoore replaced NAS Miramar (now MCAS Miramar) out in California. The new base encompasses 30,000 acres of which 20,000 acres is owned by Navy and 10,000 acres is an air easement. This is very similar to Cecil Field which also was 30,000 acres of which 20,000 acres were Navy-owned. This appears to be the size of facility the Navy wants on the East Coast. Unfortunately, BRAC closed the only facility of this size.

NAS Oceana is just over 10,000 acres of which the Navy owns approx 7000 acres. MCAS Beaufort is not much better at 12,000 acres. The only advantage of MCAS Beaufort is it is not being encroached upon by a major metro area. (Compared to MCAS Cherry Point, it has far fewer personnel so can more easily absorb the influx of 10,000 personnel.) Other than that, Beaufort's facilities pale in comparison with Oceana.

NAS Kingsville (TX) and NAS Meridian (MS) are too far away from carriers in Norfolk. In addition, both Kingsville and Meridian need significant upgrades and Meridian also suffers from a size issue (under 10,000 acres). I can't find information on the size of NAS Kingsville.

All this points to why the Navy is trying to buy all that land in NC. It wants its 30,000 acres in a rural area between its East Coast carrier bases like NAS Lemoore. Cecil Field is really the only operational competition for Oceana in terms of meeting long-term Navy demands. With it off the table, I believe NAS Oceana is here to stay until the Navy gets its land. Although, I wouldn't be surprised if 2 or 3 F/A-18 squadrons are moved to Beaufort.

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I think it is safe to say that Oceana will remain open in Va. Beach for the forseeable future, but with the constant gunning for Oceana's jets from other locales I hope Va. Beach has a continguency plan for the possiblity of Oceana closing. I know the Navy has stated that it wants Oceana to remain open, but at the same time they have curtail training excercises because of encroachment. With continued development in Va. Beach at what time is the Navy going to have to pull the plug on its support of Oceana staying open.

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So, scm, you agreed with the premise of my argument?

Thanks for correcting me on NAS Lemoore's history. I was trying to get the base size numbers so didn't focus on when it came to be. I assumed NAS Miramar had other planes besides F-14's at the time of its conversion to MCAS Miramar to accomodate the closure of MCAS El Toro. In any event, thanks again. BTW, I used globalsecurity.org for my info. Wikipedia is useful in general info but is full of errors.

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Oops. I know the Navy is trying to buy the land for an OLF not a new base, but 30,000 acres? That's what I don't understand. Is there an existing OLF with that much land especially one in a rural area? Or is all this to prevent what happened at Fentress, that is glare from suburban encroachment? I just think the eventual goal is a new base unless they can get a closed MCAS or AF base. As you pointed out, Beaufort is full. Cherry Point appears full. Reopening Cecil Field isn't just problematic from a legal stand point, but from a political view point. Bases in Texas and Mississippi are too far away for efficient training on a ship. Oceana is not a long term solution because of both safety and effective training issues. In the past, NC tried to get the Navy to move fighter squandrons to Cherry Point. It is likely that will lobby again to move all Oceana squadrons to NC if the OLF is built. This is why I'm skeptical that the proposed NC OLF will remain an OLF.

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  • 1 month later...

Beach gets $7.5 million to address Oceana issues

"Nine grants totaling $12.5 million were awarded Monday to communities affected by the 2005 Defense Base Realignment and Closure Commission, including $7.5 million to Virginia Beach to address encroachment issues around Oceana Naval Air Station."

"The money also will be used to ease traffic congestion around base entrances, establish BRAC transition centers to help displaced workers and businesses, pay for historic preservation, and contribute to the construction of a new elementary school, the release said."

http://content.hamptonroads.com/story.cfm?...&ran=247723

Metalman

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have to say that despite my previous remarks, this is good news. For the "forseable future" is a good indication that the navy doesn't have the time, money, or motivation to rebuild an airstation in the next decade or more. Oceana is safe, development can't happen at the oceanfront as much as we would like, but oh well. This means land around the base can't be built on any more, so where will they go? Pembroke (hopefully)!!

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I have to say that despite my previous remarks, this is good news. For the "forseable future" is a good indication that the navy doesn't have the time, money, or motivation to rebuild an airstation in the next decade or more. Oceana is safe, development can't happen at the oceanfront as much as we would like, but oh well. This means land around the base can't be built on any more, so where will they go? Pembroke (hopefully)!!
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Sunrise will not got to pembroke nor will any other oceanfront development interest. Developers interested in the resort and the oceanfront will have no interest building at town center, it's like comparing apples to oranges. If the development can't happen there then it just won't happen....
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No no no, I wasn't refering to oceanfront development. I was refering to all of the area around Oceana where offices have recently been built. That land was perfect for office use and all around Lynnhaven small office buildings have been growing, or at least were last time I checked... I may be mistaken but I thought the Navy wanted NOTHING built in those areas, so all of those projects would have to move to the other main district in the city, Pembroke... The oceanfront development will still be limited, I know... But do the restrictions affect the entire strip?
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