Mountain Home Air Force Base Seeking Input on Flying Altitudes
It never fails that especially during the summer months people are talking about the 'booms' that might be coming from the Mountain Home Air Force Base (AFB) or planes that they saw. Well, if you're one of those people who think 'they're flying too low,' the AFB wants to hear from you.
The United States Air Force is asking for people to voice their opinions regarding a possible change to airspace optimization. To simplify it, they're asking how you feel about low-altitude flights coming over southern Idaho as a part of different training exercises.
The change the United States Air Force is proposing includes:
Changing low-altitude airspace floors that currently prohibit realistic low-altitude training certification and maintenance training and negatively impact vertical capability and capacity
Providing consistent low-level operational floors for low-altitude flights to allow use of topographic features of mountainous terrain to mask the aircraft and safely neutralize or avoid technologically advanced threats
Allowing aircrews to descend at supersonic speed and to fly at lower supersonic altitudes so they can realistically train on evasive maneuvers
As a part of the National Environmental Policy Act, the U.S. Air Force is required to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement that'll help evaluate any impact the changes could have on the environment because of the change at the Mountain Home Air Force Base.
If you missed when they held public meetings in early November about the changes, you can submit written comments online by November 25, 2019, at the Mountain Home Air Force Base website. You can see all of their information regarding the public scoping materials here.