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| BOGUE FIELD COMMITTEE Recommendations to the Emerald Isle Board of Commissioners and Citizens Editor's Note: After many hours of research and deliberation, the Bogue Field Committee created this report. It was originally begun for presentation to the Emerald Isle Mayor and Board of Commissioners. However, the majority of the BOC did not feel it was necessary to review our findings or make them public. The enclosed report has been modified slightly from the original presented to the Board of Commissioners in that the safety issue overrides some of the recommendations of the committee that asked for field SOP modifications such as hours of operation and monitoring of noise. It should be further noted that the Bogue Field Committee did not and does not recommend the closing of Bogue Field. The reality is that the USMC can use Bogue Field for many missions without flying the military's most dangerous plane over Emerald Isle and populated areas of Carteret County. Our neighbors at Bogue and Cape Carteret are also in harms way. Introduction Town officials documented problems as far back as 1990. They adopted a consultant study in 1997 that said safety and noise were serious problems. It is therefore no surprise that implementing many of the recommendations will require long-term commitments. The arguments that "they were here first", and "it's the sound of freedom" are catchy but not altogether to the point. Bogue Field was certainly in operation before Emerald Isle was incorporated, but it was not used by jets, and very noisy jets with a dubious safety record at that. If the military required additional real estate to accommodate jets, it should have purchased that real estate. Oversimplified catch phrases and flag waving should not be used to condone violation at will of common sense safety and welfare standards. The Bogue Field Committee includes veterans who have been in the Marines and Army, in military aviation, in combat, and are well decorated. Patriotism comes naturally. But with that experience is also some knowledge of the bureaucracy that can be a part of any organization the size of the military. As we have been learning, that kind of bureaucratic resistance can exist at the local government level as well. Unfortunately, many rancorous exchanges have occurred with some members of the Board of Commissioners and the Mayor almost since they appointed the committee in September 2000. The fortuitous appearance of the East Carolina Joint Land Use Study (JLUS) has provided an excuse for the town government not to follow through vigorously with these recommendations, or even to encourage dialogue. General Information Bogue Field (officially Marine Corps Auxiliary Landing Field Bogue) consists of a runway constructed of aluminum panels which can, in theory, be disassembled and reconstructed anywhere in the world in a matter of days by a specialty construction battalion. Bogue Field has no aircraft permanently assigned. It serves as a training facility primarily for AV-8 Harriers from Cherry Point Marine Corps Air Station. However, it is also used for practice approaches by C-130 transports from Cherry Point, F-18 fighters from Beaufort, SC, and helicopters from New River MCAS. That there is a noise impact on Emerald Isle's lifestyle is obvious. Citizens who live close to normal flight patterns find it very offensive. Tourists who visit the area are probably mixed in their opinions, but there is anecdotal evidence that tourists favor the quieter sections of Bogue Banks. No survey has specifically been aimed at our visitors. The Town of Emerald Isle's economic engine is tourism, not government spending. In this respect, we are different from much of the rest of Carteret County. It is also substantially built out (+/-90%), so there is probably not much impact that the JLUS study can have on the way the town is developed in the future. Emerald Isle provides a significant percentage of the property taxes of Carteret County while getting far less in return. There are no county roads and very few school age children. We acknowledge that the economic impact of the military is great in East Carolina, but that is exactly the reason that the rest of Carteret County and the JLUS will be less sympathetic with Emerald Isle's concerns. Recommendations: I. Safety Issues * Our research, along with data provided by the USMC, indicate that the AV-8 Harrier has a high accident potential. * The AV-8B Harrier has suffered more than 77 major crashes, at least 15 occurring in Eastern NC and more than 20 pilots killed. * In 1998 the Harrier had 12 accidents per 100,000 hours, and was classified as the military's most dangerous plane. * 1999 was one of the worst years in recent Harrier history. There were 7 crashes. Another pilot was killed. And the Harrier had been grounded 5 times. * In 2000 the Harrier was grounded 4 times with the latest grounding on July 12, 2000. In August the USMC lifted the grounding for 25% of the fleet without finding the cause of the crash that resulted in the grounding on July 12. * The pilots who fly the Harriers are not getting the full amount of flight time necessary to maintain proficiency. One Harrier pilot who declined to be named said "Flying so little, I feel I am barely proficient enough to do an engine start." * The extensive groundings have hurt the proficiency of maintenance personnel to do routine repairs and inspections. One group surveyed by the USMC who did maintenance on the Harrier said that parts were reused that were meant to be thrown away, that they have been forced to do something wrong or dangerous. These statements have an eerie similarity to the ongoing Osprey investigation where enlisted men were told to lie about maintenance. |
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