264

64

60

58

13

165

Great Neck Rd.

Shore Dr.

Virginia Beach Blvd.

Princess Anne Rd.

Princess Anne Rd.

Holland Rd.

Mt. Pleasant Rd.

VirginiaBeachMunicipal Center

VirginiaBeachMunicipal Center

Sandbridge

CampPendleton

BACKBAY

LYNNHAVENBAY

RUDEEINLETRUDEEINLET

ATLANTICOCEAN

Lynnhaven Mall

Little CreekAmphibious Base

Fort Story

OceanaNaval AirStation

OceanaNaval AirStation

Fentress

Instrument approach patterns have been raised from 1,500 feet to 2,000 feet.

Helicopters are no longer allowed to approach Oceana by flying over Rudee Inlet. Instead, they fly over Camp Pendleton.

Departing planes climb only to 4,000 feet until they are 15 miles away. They are allowed to climb higher only over water.

Pilots fly wide, looping oval flight paths around Fentress to try to avoid flying directly over farm houses, neighborhoods and the inland waterway.

Primarily because of their efforts to minimize jet noise around developments, pilots approach and take off from Oceana and Fentress in a multitude of patterns. Often, the path is far from a direct line.

A MAZE OF FLIGHT PATTERNS

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N2 miles

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN LAND AND SEAOceana-based pilots cannot practice and train at home the same way they fly off their deployed aircraft carriers. The biggest difference is the altitude of the approach. At home, the pilots must come in much steeper.

As the East Coast’s master jet base for the Navy, Oceana is responsible for training and qualifying pilots to land and take off from carriers. The qualification process must be repeated several times a year.

WHY SO MANY FLIGHTS?With each new generation of Navy jet, the planes produce more power -- and noise.  Just as the F/A-18 Hornet is louder than the F-14 Tomcat, the F/A-18 Super Hornets are louder than the regular Hornets. The Super Hornets begin flying here regularly next spring. 

HOW LOUD IS LOUD?

Each training period consists of six touch-and-go landings.

Each pilot must complete two daytime training periods and six nighttime periods before becoming qualified for carrier landings.

There are 18 pilots in each F/A-18 or F-14 squadron.

There are combinations of four F/A-18 Hornet or F-14 Tomcat squadrons in each air

There are five air wings — one for each carrier — based at Oceana.

There are also four E-2C Hawkeye and two C-2 Greyhound planes in each squadron.

At sea: After banking their planes hard to the left, pilots approach from an altitude of 600 feet.

Fentress: Pilots make their turn and descend to 800 feet.

Oceana: Pilots make their turn and descend no lower than 1,000 feet.

Oceana: Pilots make their turn and descend no lower than 1,000 feet.

At sea: Pilots typically approach their aircraft carrier from a mile away at an altitude of 800 feet.

Fentress: Pilots conducting touch-and-gos must approach from 1,000 feet.

Oceana: Pilots conducting touch-and-gos must approach from 1,500 feet — nearly twice the altitude they use at sea.

1. THE APPROACH

6landings

48landings

864landings

3,456landings

17,280landings

Running tally:

130db: Civil defense siren

110db: Pile driver

100db: Ambulance siren

96db: Lawn mower

80db: Garbage disposal

70db: Vacuum cleaner

60db: Normal conversation from five feet away

At sea: Pilots must set their planes down on a 200-foot-long section of the 1,000-foot-long carrier deck.

Fentress: Pilots aim for a 200-foot-long section of an 8,000-foot-long runway.

Oceana: Pilots aim for a 200-foot-long section of 8,000- to 12,000-foot-long runways.

3. THE TARGET2. THE TURN

800' 800'1,000'

600'800'

600'

1,000'

600'

1,000'

600'

800'

1,500'

108dbDeparture of F/A-18Hornet at 1,000 feet

97dbDeparture of F-14Tomcat at 1,000 feet

SOURCE: Oceana Naval Air Station

JACK DORSEY and CHARLES APPLE/The Virginian-Pilot

A basic tenet of military life — “train the way you fight” — simply doesn’t reflect reality for Navy pilots stationed at Oceana Naval Air Station. Here are ways the

geography and residential development surrounding the Naval airfields at Oceana and Fentress inhibit pilots from training the way they fly from their aircraft carriers:

“ T R A I N T H E W A Y Y O U F I G H T ”