AOPA files comments opposing Bulldog MOA expansion
By AOPA ePublishing staff
AOPA is asking the Air Force to work with the FAA to allow pilots to use a low-altitude IFR route, even when the surrounding military operations areas (MOAs) are active.
In comments filed with the FAA on Jan. 25, AOPA urged the military and FAA to work together to create a letter of agreement allowing general aviation pilots to use Victor 70 even when the proposed Bulldog C and Bulldog E MOAs, located between Macon, Ga., and Augusta, Ga., are in use.
In its comments, AOPA praised the Air Force for its efforts to mitigate the impact of the proposed MOAs on Burke County, Emanuel County, and Millen airports. But AOPA pointed out that the MOA expansion proposal, which would create new MOAs under the existing MOA shelf, would lower the floor of the special-use airspace from 11,000 feet msl to 500 feet agl and close V70 to IFR traffic when the MOAs are active. Without V70, which has a minimum en route altitude (MEA) of 3,000 feet msl, IFR pilots would have to use a route with an MEA of 9,000 feet msl—an altitude too high and too prone to icing for some small aircraft.
The Air Force first proposed expanding the Bulldog MOA in 2004, but its plan was rejected, largely because of the expected impact on civil aviation.
January 30, 2008
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