Edwards: USAF plans to start training in Superior, Queen Valley, Entrada del Oro
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By Steve Edwards | Guest Commentary
Our aircraft problem has just gotten bigger. The Gold Canyon Association for the Development of a Better Environment organization recently received information from Falcon Field Airport about the U.S. Air Force wanting to change their policies on training.
As chairperson of the ADOBE Air Safety Committee, myself and other ADOBE members recently attended a meeting in Superior where the USAF was holding meetings on its new training proposal. Other community members attending included groups from the Apache Indian Nation, and local ranchers and residents from the towns of Globe, Superior and Kearny. We were given handouts by members of the USAF explaining the new program and we all had the opportunity to air our grievances. The bottom line, after much discussion, there was no one who attended the meeting who agreed with the proposal.
The question came to mind, why weren’t other areas notified of this meeting such as residents and community leaders from Apache Junction, Florence, east Mesa, Gilbert, Gila nation, Queen Creek and San Tan?
The USAF plan is to have more active military flying mainly over the areas of Superior, Queen Valley and Entrada del Oro. This flying includes combat maneuvers, air intercepts and low-altitude tactics with the use of flares. In the handouts given to us at the meeting the USAF admits that their use of flares could start a desert fire.
The biggest concern of the people attending the meeting was that these airplanes flying so low — as low as 500 feet off the ground or even lower — will cause all the thousands of cattle grazing in this area to be scattered. You have to be a rancher to understand how bad that is for the product that keeps you in business.
We all know how destructive a desert fire is and we all know if that happens there goes your business, and your life. There are those who say now that we know this may happen we have to declare these new low flying, noisy aircraft to a potential home buyer. If we don’t we are in trouble as a seller.
So what we need to do to stop this is to go to arizonaregionalairspaceeis.com/comments and let the U.S. Air Force know how we feel about this change. If we work together on attempting to stop these new flight patterns we can win but we have to stick together.
We love the U.S. Air Force and our military but for sure they can find another place to fly and not around our houses, ranches and towns. And what happens if they crash? And each day we hear more and more of aircraft crashes. This is a very dangerous plan and it needs to be stopped.
You should also contact the following people to let them know about this and they should do what they can to help us:
A.D.O.B.E at adobegoldcanyon@gmail.com
Phoenix-Mesa Gateway airport, 480-644-2211
Sen. Mark Kelly, 202-224-2235
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, 202-224-4521 or 602-598-7327
Rep. Paul A. Gosar, 6499 S. Kings Ranch Road No. 4, Gold Canyon, AZ 85118; or 480-882-2697
Arizona State Legislature, representing District 16: Sen. Kelly Townsend, 602-926-4467; Rep. John M. Fillmore 602-926-3187; Rep. Jacqueline Parker 902-926-3375.
Pinal County Supervisor Jeff Serdy, 480-982-0659.
Editor’s note: Queen Valley resident Steve Edwards is chairperson of the Association for the Development of a Better Environment’s air traffic control committee.
