That recurring airspace-sharing question...

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Dave Taylor
...rears its ugly head again.
Those in favor say the military needs more access to formerly unburdened airspace in order to accomplish their mission.
Those against say they are already hogging much of the NAS, it is difficult to go anywhere in a straight line, especially in the west, without running into SUA, usually military airspace and that continued encroachment is plainly a continued loss of our freedoms.

http://www.newswest9.com/story/36358148/new-mexico-base-seeks-expanded-training-space-for-flights
 
Well ya might not have those freedoms anymore if the military doesn't train.

Jet noise - the sound of freedom.
 
In general I don't mind them too much, and of course you *can* go into MOAs if you feel you need to. Many MOAs also have a high enough floor that us low and slow folks can stay under them.

There are a few that are annoying though; probably most to me (mostly because of where I live and where I go) is the block of restricted areas around White Sands. On several occasions I've loosely followed the Rio Grande roughly from Deming up to around Albuquerque, or vice versa, but at times it would have been awfully nice to be able to swing to the east to avoid weather around the mountains on the west side of that path.

In most cases I haven't had to go too far out of my way for them though.
 
usually military airspace and that continued encroachment is plainly a continued loss of our freedoms.
When you say continued encroachment, have you seen other instances where the military is expanding its airspace, or are you including TFRs and such?
 
Don't blame the military, blame the big brains at all those liberal institutions of higher learning. They keep thinking up better sensors that can reach out further, gotta have the space to practice with them.
 
As both a mil and recreational pilot, I'd like the footprint of restricted areas limited. R airspace is generally used for hot weapons employment, so the corridors can be kept small and still get the weapons off. MOAs on the other hand I think we can be good co-users about it and exercise a modicum of discretion in how we traverse them. unless you're dealing with a10s or helos, most activity can be accomplished above 9k without readiness impact. sometimes we can even set new floor if the conflicting traffic is low enough to only affect a thousand feet off the bottom. the area is usually large enough laterally and the leaker slow enough that we can lean away from it and not have to scrub the setup.

but thats that's me who never ventures West of the Rockies in either capacity anymore. absolutely agreed that the SUA situation West of the Rockies is more onerous by comparison.
 
As both a mil and recreational pilot, I'd like the footprint of restricted areas limited. R airspace is generally used for hot weapons employment, so the corridors can be kept small and still get the weapons off. MOAs on the other hand I think we can be good co-users about it and exercise a modicum of discretion in how we traverse them. unless you're dealing with a10s or helos, most activity can be accomplished above 9k without readiness impact. sometimes we can even set new floor if the conflicting traffic is low enough to only affect a thousand feet off the bottom. the area is usually large enough laterally and the leaker slow enough that we can lean away from it and not have to scrub the setup.

but thats that's me who never ventures West of the Rockies in either capacity anymore. absolutely agreed that the SUA situation West of the Rockies is more onerous by comparison.
Agree we can/should be able to share better - specifically getting the info to the GA user.

Disagree about the 9k' floor - for many reasons. Too easy to find with the radar, can't update lowat currency (required to fulfill our alert commitment), doesn't allow for solid AAMD training or visual lookout just to name a few.
 
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