has anyone heard of a MOA collision?

Ugh. This is painful. :(

As Steven said, the NOTAM covers the hot and cold times. It isn't old or slow. It has to be put out 24 hrs in advance. Usually the using agency gets the NOTAM out a few days in advance. We briefed the NOTAM in the AM to ensure its accuracy. If the airspace closes early (doesn't happen much) ATC will inform any aircraft they're working and reroute aircraft in a few seconds.

Plan your route and check the NOTAMs. Simple.
 
Were you the controlling facility? At ZAU (11 years there) we were the controlling facility for our SE SUA (three MOA one ATCAA). We knew when it was planned to go active, we activated it, we cleared military into the airspace, and had a UHF to talk to them while inside the airspace. If they wanted to depart IFR, we cleared them out of the airspace.

I can't speak for who controls the MOA's and R-areas along GRB, but I can't imagine things being that much different.

Yes, I was at ZAU 1983 through 1992.
 
I was ATC. Thirty years. Worked airspace with MOAs, ATCAAs, and Restricted Areas. Never knew what working freqs the aircraft were on.


Are you still in ATC? Just wondering, maybe that's changed since you left. I've only been flying in the military for 14 years but we nearly always have a freq that we can talk to ATC on.
 
Are you still in ATC?

I hit mandatory retirement age last May.

Just wondering, maybe that's changed since you left. I've only been flying in the military for 14 years but we nearly always have a freq that we can talk to ATC on.

Sure, but that's not the same as ATC knowing what frequency you're on while working in the SUA.
 
Things have changed since 20+ years ago. For one, the old M-1 room is now our briefing areas and SOC.

So what changed in the last 20+ years that made ATC clearances for SUA entry a requirement? What changed that made ATC communications with using aircraft while in the SUA necessary?
 
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Well, there are issues here.
First, the air over the country is public airspace not military airspace - and I do not cede control of the public airspace to the military.
Look at the chart for the Southeastern quadrant of the country. It is just a crazy quilt of MOA/SUA with only small segments of normal airspace separating them. When I go to our place in Florida from Michigan I have to fly thorough a significant number of them. We usually go on a weekend, along with the weekend warriors which means many of them are 'hot'..
Now, perhaps I am overly sensitive but I do not believe I should have to beg permission to use the public airspace nor should I have to burn excess fuel to make a flight path that looks a ball in a pinball machine while trying to stay clear of the wall to wall MOA's. - and I don't.
(I also believe the 2nd Amendment is absolute - but that is for another day)
Next, if you cannot see and avoid my spamcan putzing along down low at 130 knots I would give your time/odds of surviving enemy fighters in a war zone as 4-seconds and zero.
Further, the attitude some of these hotshot fighter pilots towards GA stinks - and can be fatal. I will give you the Viper 1 incident as a typical operational attitude. I can tell you that had I been the prosecutor in that county I would have charged those pilots with manslaughter.

So there.
Now , where's my Dale Carnegie pen? :D
 
Next, if you cannot see and avoid my spamcan putzing along down low at 130 knots I would give your time/odds of surviving enemy fighters in a war zone as 4-seconds and zero.

I will give you the Viper 1 incident as a typical operational attitude. I can tell you that had I been the prosecutor in that county I would have charged those pilots with manslaughter.

And you would be qualified to make any of these statements because?......
 
Well, there are issues here.
First, the air over the country is public airspace not military airspace - and I do not cede control of the public airspace to the military.
Look at the chart for the Southeastern quadrant of the country. It is just a crazy quilt of MOA/SUA with only small segments of normal airspace separating them. When I go to our place in Florida from Michigan I have to fly thorough a significant number of them. We usually go on a weekend, along with the weekend warriors which means many of them are 'hot'..
Now, perhaps I am overly sensitive but I do not believe I should have to beg permission to use the public airspace nor should I have to burn excess fuel to make a flight path that looks a ball in a pinball machine while trying to stay clear of the wall to wall MOA's. - and I don't.

Military aircraft are public aircraft.
 
...I will give you the Viper 1 incident as a typical operational attitude. I can tell you that had I been the prosecutor in that county I would have charged those pilots with manslaughter...

What's the "Viper 1 incident"? Google doesn't seem to be helping here.
 
So what changed in the last 20+ years that made ATC clearances for SUA entry a requirement? What changed that made ATC communications with using aircraft while in the SUA necessary?

I gave you my answer in post #103. Your response, "Dubious."

Again, we had an LOA with the local military squadrons.
 
Well, there are issues here.
First, the air over the country is public airspace not military airspace - and I do not cede control of the public airspace to the military.
Look at the chart for the Southeastern quadrant of the country. It is just a crazy quilt of MOA/SUA with only small segments of normal airspace separating them. When I go to our place in Florida from Michigan I have to fly thorough a significant number of them. We usually go on a weekend, along with the weekend warriors which means many of them are 'hot'..
Now, perhaps I am overly sensitive but I do not believe I should have to beg permission to use the public airspace nor should I have to burn excess fuel to make a flight path that looks a ball in a pinball machine while trying to stay clear of the wall to wall MOA's. - and I don't.
(I also believe the 2nd Amendment is absolute - but that is for another day)
Next, if you cannot see and avoid my spamcan putzing along down low at 130 knots I would give your time/odds of surviving enemy fighters in a war zone as 4-seconds and zero.
Further, the attitude some of these hotshot fighter pilots towards GA stinks - and can be fatal. I will give you the Viper 1 incident as a typical operational attitude. I can tell you that had I been the prosecutor in that county I would have charged those pilots with manslaughter.

So there.
Now , where's my Dale Carnegie pen? :D

Are you suggesting not having SUA at all would be a better solution? Should we have everyone operation in one big chunk of airspace with aircraft going by at 600 kts, rockets flying through the air, helicopters landing in your backyard?

What about TFRs? Should those go away as well? Fly through the middle of an air show, fly through airborne fire fighting activity or get in the way of LE & EMS in natural disaster areas?

The airspace we have now isn't perfect but if with a little bit of tolerance of other operations, it can work.
 
Look at the chart for the Southeastern quadrant of the country. It is just a crazy quilt of MOA/SUA with only small segments of normal airspace separating them.

When I fly VFR between Northern California and Phoenix, I find that's it's not difficult to stay underneath most of the MOAs. I recognize that that may not be possible everywhere, and it's also true that I can't plan on flying a direct route, due to some restricted areas.
 
I still am.



Please post it.

Not gonna happen pal. If I couldn't get the information out of a public FAA site, there is no way I am posting it here on a public forum. If you are truly interested, PM me and we can talk about it.

Otherwise, do a FOIA request.
 
Not gonna happen pal. If I couldn't get the information out of a public FAA site, there is no way I am posting it here on a public forum. If you are truly interested, PM me and we can talk about it.

Otherwise, do a FOIA request.

If you provide the title of the document I can get it from the LoA Depository.
 
Not gonna happen pal. If I couldn't get the information out of a public FAA site, there is no way I am posting it here on a public forum. If you are truly interested, PM me and we can talk about it.

Otherwise, do a FOIA request.

If you provide the title of the document I can get it from the LoA Depository.

First, it's the FAA Repository, not LOA depository.

Second, it is online, access restricted behind ATO firewall.

Third, if you have ready access to this information, you do not need my help.

Finally, how you have access as a retired controller is beyond me. Either you kept your credentials thru a contractor job or you have illegitimate means for access. I do not want to know. Thus, I am stepping away from this conversation.
 
So what changed in the last 20+ years that made ATC clearances for SUA entry a requirement? What changed that made ATC communications with using aircraft while in the SUA necessary?

Considering the last thousand hours of my military flight time was mostly flown around central Mississippi and Alabama, I can only speak for those MOAs. I know those MOAs are scheduled at least 24 hours in advance, however, they're not actually activated until the aircraft check-in with Atlanta or Memphis Center. And deactivated when we leave. Sometimes you wait a bit for them to clear IFR traffic out of the MOA, often times you can hear them vectoring traffic around the MOA or alerting traffic to its status (we're on UHF...the civils are on VHF, so ATC often transmits on both simultaneously). Occasionally we'll get alerted to traffic cutting the corner or needing access to an airfield underlying the MOA. And often we only activate the altitude blocks we intend to use on that sortie. The point is, ATC has our working frequency and we have theirs...and we operate out there as a TEAM. As long as everyone cooperates, we maintain safe separation and everyone is happy. I can't imagine that we're the only squadrons in the country doing this or that you've got 30 years as a controller and are unfamiliar?
 
Considering the last thousand hours of my military flight time was mostly flown around central Mississippi and Alabama, I can only speak for those MOAs. I know those MOAs are scheduled at least 24 hours in advance, however, they're not actually activated until the aircraft check-in with Atlanta or Memphis Center. And deactivated when we leave. Sometimes you wait a bit for them to clear IFR traffic out of the MOA, often times you can hear them vectoring traffic around the MOA or alerting traffic to its status (we're on UHF...the civils are on VHF, so ATC often transmits on both simultaneously). Occasionally we'll get alerted to traffic cutting the corner or needing access to an airfield underlying the MOA. And often we only activate the altitude blocks we intend to use on that sortie. The point is, ATC has our working frequency and we have theirs...and we operate out there as a TEAM. As long as everyone cooperates, we maintain safe separation and everyone is happy. I can't imagine that we're the only squadrons in the country doing this or that you've got 30 years as a controller and are unfamiliar?

You've written nothing that answers either of my questions.
 
Sure, but that's not the same as ATC knowing what frequency you're on while working in the SUA.

Well I don't assume I know it all, I'm just saying that at least 90% of the time I've flown over the last 14 years, we told the controllers what freq's we were working on.
 
Well I don't assume I know it all, I'm just saying that at least 90% of the time I've flown over the last 14 years, we told the controllers what freq's we were working on.

What determined the freqs you'd be working on? What was ATC to do with that information?
 
Well, there are issues here.
First, the air over the country is public airspace not military airspace - and I do not cede control of the public airspace to the military.
Look at the chart for the Southeastern quadrant of the country. It is just a crazy quilt of MOA/SUA with only small segments of normal airspace separating them. When I go to our place in Florida from Michigan I have to fly thorough a significant number of them. We usually go on a weekend, along with the weekend warriors which means many of them are 'hot'..
Now, perhaps I am overly sensitive but I do not believe I should have to beg permission to use the public airspace nor should I have to burn excess fuel to make a flight path that looks a ball in a pinball machine while trying to stay clear of the wall to wall MOA's. - and I don't.
(I also believe the 2nd Amendment is absolute - but that is for another day)
Next, if you cannot see and avoid my spamcan putzing along down low at 130 knots I would give your time/odds of surviving enemy fighters in a war zone as 4-seconds and zero.
Further, the attitude some of these hotshot fighter pilots towards GA stinks - and can be fatal. I will give you the Viper 1 incident as a typical operational attitude. I can tell you that had I been the prosecutor in that county I would have charged those pilots with manslaughter.

So there.
Now , where's my Dale Carnegie pen? :D

Is anyone asking you (or anyone else) to cede control of anything? Nope.

The argument about not being able to see my little aircraft blah blah blah is just uninformed. If you had even the most remote understanding of what happens in those training areas you'd know that's just silly. It has absolutely 0.0 to do with flying in combat (and if you were qualified to comment you'd know that).

Listen, do you like it when the public lumps all pilots together as rich playboys? I doubt it. Do the military pilots a favor by giving us the same courtesy. There are some bad apples in every group, but having a poor attitude about sharing airspace doesn't do anything other than reinforce whatever bad blood was/is already there - not to mention it makes you look entitled and less than brilliant.

There are people who will always say you should go around a MOA. I'm not one of those. Is there a risk if the MOA is hot? Absolutely! However, the risk is different every min of every day. This is why I always advocate talking to the controller so they can advise the people using the MOA that there will be other traffic and how best to avoid it. This provides a bit more safety and keeps you from having to go out of your way. Sure, there are times when the controller isn't talking to us (very very rarely in my experience -but I've only been doing this for 14 years). Those are the times we as GA pilots have to evaluate the elevated risk and decide if it's worth going through without anyone knowing about us. Sometimes yes, sometimes no.
 
What determined the freqs you'd be working on? What was ATC to do with that information?


Every MOA that we use has a set of freq's that we are allowed (by the FAA) to use in that airspace. Time permitting based on ATC workload (I'm assuming) they come up on our freq and let us know there will be stranger traffic in the area.
 
Every MOA that we use has a set of freq's that we are allowed (by the FAA) to use in that airspace. Time permitting based on ATC workload (I'm assuming) they come up on our freq and let us know there will be stranger traffic in the area.

Well, pilots can select hundreds of frequencies on their transceivers, it's not entirely unreasonable to assume ATC has similar capability with their remote transceivers. But they don't. A control position will have a small number of frequencies available to it dependent on the area and altitudes covered by the sector. The transceivers can be selected or deselected but the frequencies are fixed.
 
Well, pilots can select hundreds of frequencies on their transceivers, it's not entirely unreasonable to assume ATC has similar capability with their remote transceivers. But they don't. A control position will have a small number of frequencies available to it dependent on the area and altitudes covered by the sector. The transceivers can be selected or deselected but the frequencies are fixed.

We had a manual UHF and VHF at NBC. Dialed in CTAF on many times to talk to an aircraft. Also on occasion I would listen in on the fighter guys in the Warning Area on their internal.
 
We had a manual UHF and VHF at NBC. Dialed in CTAF on many times to talk to an aircraft. Also on occasion I would listen in on the fighter guys in the Warning Area on their internal.

We had them at GRB too, tower and TRACON. Portable, battery-powered backups. Such systems are not particularly useful when the aircraft are several hundred miles away.
 
Well, pilots can select hundreds of frequencies on their transceivers, it's not entirely unreasonable to assume ATC has similar capability with their remote transceivers. But they don't. A control position will have a small number of frequencies available to it dependent on the area and altitudes covered by the sector. The transceivers can be selected or deselected but the frequencies are fixed.


Yep, that'd do it. The guys around here LA, MS, GA, FL, AL must either have them programmed or have selectable freq's since I've been called by ATC in all those areas. Utah and ID as well.

If they don't have the freq's in the MOAs programmed, how can we get them programmed? There's not that many UHF freq's being used in a sector at one time, seems that'd be logical to have the MOA freq's programmed if space is available.
 
Considering the last thousand hours of my military flight time was mostly flown around central Mississippi and Alabama, I can only speak for those MOAs. I know those MOAs are scheduled at least 24 hours in advance, however, they're not actually activated until the aircraft check-in with Atlanta or Memphis Center. And deactivated when we leave. Sometimes you wait a bit for them to clear IFR traffic out of the MOA, often times you can hear them vectoring traffic around the MOA or alerting traffic to its status (we're on UHF...the civils are on VHF, so ATC often transmits on both simultaneously). Occasionally we'll get alerted to traffic cutting the corner or needing access to an airfield underlying the MOA. And often we only activate the altitude blocks we intend to use on that sortie. The point is, ATC has our working frequency and we have theirs...and we operate out there as a TEAM. As long as everyone cooperates, we maintain safe separation and everyone is happy. I can't imagine that we're the only squadrons in the country doing this or that you've got 30 years as a controller and are unfamiliar?

So, in other words, while the MOA airspace is reserved 24 hours in advance, whether they're actually "hot" or "cold" depends whether or not the aircraft that have reserved them actually show up, and even if they do, they may not use all of the airspace, or the airspace for the entire amount of the reserved time.

None of which would be evident from a NOTAM published 24 hours in the advance. Or even a NOTAM that was published which was actually accurate when provided to a pilot on a briefing 2 hours ago (who, in his due diligence checked the NOTAMS right before a 2 hour flight), the actual op may have cancelled or otherwise had plans change, resulting in a cold MOA.

More information is good. More & more current information is better. There is a weird amount of push back on 801's idea considering the players in the on the forum here would have zero involvement or resource expenditure on how such an idea would be implemented, and we all would stand to benefit.

Certainly, you would think, from the Mil guy's posts, they would want VFR aircraft to remain out of hot MOAs and R-areas, and they've certainly shown a level of grumpiness when VFR aircraft blow through and they have to delay or curtail their activities (which we all agree costs a lot of time, effort and money).

Certainly providing more readily accessible information that is more up-to-date than a 24 hour NOTAM would be a good thing? Right? So why the push back?

A random guess would be that a certain amount of flexibility with regards to the published MOA/R area usage exists...while a unit that reserved the space may not use it, some others may drop in on an ad hoc basis.

A more cynical person would see the MOA situation similar to any government budget. If you don't use it all, you stand the risk of having it reduced in the future. By essentially "publishing" the actual usage of the MOA/R space on a real time basis, some enterprising soul or user group may use that information to demonstrate that all of the airspace currently blocked off isn't really required, and have the data to back it up. The information would be readily accessible, and certainly no "trail" would be created by annoying ATC with weirdly regular requests on the status of certain airspace.

But only a cynical person would think that.

Richman
 
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So, in other words, while the MOA airspace is reserved 24 hours in advance, whether they're actually "hot" or "cold" depends whether or not the aircraft that have reserved them actually show up, and even if they do, they may not use all of the airspace, or the airspace for the entire amount of the reserved time.

None of which would be evident from a NOTAM published 24 hours in the advance. Or even a NOTAM that was published which was actually accurate when provided to a pilot on a briefing 2 hours ago (who, in his due diligence checked the NOTAMS right before a 2 hour flight), the actual op may have cancelled or otherwise had plans change, resulting in a cold MOA.

More information is good. More & more current information is better. There is a weird amount of push back on 801's idea considering the players in the on the forum here would have zero involvement or resource expenditure on how such an idea would be implemented, and we all would stand to benefit.

Certainly, you would think, from the Mil guy's posts, they would want VFR aircraft to remain out of hot MOAs and R-areas, and they've certainly shown a level of grumpiness when VFR aircraft blow through and they have to delay or curtail their activities (which we all agree costs a lot of time, effort and money).

Certainly providing more readily accessible information that is more up-to-date than a 24 hour NOTAM would be a good thing? Right? So why the push back?

A random guess would be that a certain amount of flexibility with regards to the published MOA/R area usage exists...while a unit that reserved the space may not use it, some others may drop in on an ad hoc basis.

A more cynical person would see the MOA situation similar to any government budget. If you don't use it all, you stand the risk of having it reduced in the future. By essentially "publishing" the actual usage of the MOA/R space on a real time basis, some enterprising soul or user group may use that information to demonstrate that all of the airspace currently blocked off isn't really required, and have the data to back it up. The information would be readily accessible, and certainly no "trail" would be created by annoying ATC with weirdly regular requests on the status of certain airspace.

But only a cynical person would think that.

Richman

I want you to be able to press through any and all SUA and have the same knowledge that we do, that said place is cold. There is no reason to just fly around the airspace if we aren't using it, and NOTAMS aren't an accurate place to see if the airspace is hot, on the minute to minute level.....I think you are picking up what we are putting down from your above post.
 
I want you to be able to press through any and all SUA and have the same knowledge that we do, that said place is cold. There is no reason to just fly around the airspace if we aren't using it, and NOTAMS aren't an accurate place to see if the airspace is hot, on the minute to minute level.....I think you are picking up what we are putting down from your above post.

And the pushback continues......:mad2::mad2:..

The topic here is MOA's....

WE can fly through them whether they are hot or cold.. It AIN'T your private airspace..:no:... It belongs to the taxpayers, ya know, the same people who own the jets /planes/ heli's you get to play with... Oh yeah, don't forget... we are buying your fuel too..;):idea:
 
Hey there mr high and mighty tax payer, guess what? We pay taxes too.

Again, where did 35 say it was his private airspace?
 
And the pushback continues......:mad2::mad2:..

The topic here is MOA's....

WE can fly through them whether they are hot or cold.. It AIN'T your private airspace..:no:... It belongs to the taxpayers, ya know, the same people who own the jets /planes/ heli's you get to play with... Oh yeah, don't forget... we are buying your fuel too..;):idea:

Give me a break. Read what I wrote again. I said none of those things, nor have I previously.

My point was for the folks who do wish to inform themselves of the status of a MOA. I wish there was a better way that they could do so. Secondly, for the folks who wish to avoid a hot MOA completely, I wish there was a better way that they could determine if it is hot, so as to not waste their time if it isn't.

FWIW we all pay those same taxes too, so it "belongs" to all of us.
 
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Give me a break. Read what I wrote again. I said none of those things, nor have I previously.

My point was for the folks who do wish to inform themselves of the status of a MOA. I wish there was a better way that they could do so. Secondly, for the folks who wish to avoid a hot MOA completely, I wish there was a better way that they could determine if it is hot, so as to not waste their time if it isn't.

FWIW we all pay those same taxes too, so it "belongs" to all of us.

At least I got that point across to you and Evil..;)..

I still contend there is an VERY easy way to notify any traffic wanting real time status information on whether any MOA is hot, or not.... Find the center, or someplace close. Install a small antenna and a simple transmitter /receiver. Use the same circuitry that all airports use for pilot controlled lighting and a simple digital recording.....

Any incoming military aircraft can use a discrete freq to start the recording.. Each click buys you 10 minutes of duration on the recording.. ya gonna do a quick fly in and out.. Click the PTT once... Ya gonna linger for an hour and practice stuff, click it 6 times... For the cost of about 20 gallons of JetA I can probably whip some out.. You think the Dept of Defense can spare a couple of hundred bucks out of their 600 BILLION dollar budget..:dunno:
 
I still contend there is an VERY easy way to notify any traffic wanting real time status information on whether any MOA is hot, or not.... Find the center, or someplace close. Install a small antenna and a simple transmitter /receiver. Use the same circuitry that all airports use for pilot controlled lighting and a simple digital recording.....

Any incoming military aircraft can use a discrete freq to start the recording.. Each click buys you 10 minutes of duration on the recording.. ya gonna do a quick fly in and out.. Click the PTT once... Ya gonna linger for an hour and practice stuff, click it 6 times... For the cost of about 20 gallons of JetA I can probably whip some out.. You think the Dept of Defense can spare a couple of hundred bucks out of their 600 BILLION dollar budget..:dunno:

So design it, build it, patent it, and sell it to the government.
 
At least I got that point across to you and Evil..;)..

I still contend there is an VERY easy way to notify any traffic wanting real time status information on whether any MOA is hot, or not.... Find the center, or someplace close. Install a small antenna and a simple transmitter /receiver. Use the same circuitry that all airports use for pilot controlled lighting and a simple digital recording.....

Any incoming military aircraft can use a discrete freq to start the recording.. Each click buys you 10 minutes of duration on the recording.. ya gonna do a quick fly in and out.. Click the PTT once... Ya gonna linger for an hour and practice stuff, click it 6 times... For the cost of about 20 gallons of JetA I can probably whip some out.. You think the Dept of Defense can spare a couple of hundred bucks out of their 600 BILLION dollar budget..:dunno:

Well, no better time than the present to make your proposal. Like I mentioned before, we will positively activate a MOA prior to using it, which around here is normally with either Wash Center, or FACSFAC, who is in direct comms with Center. So they do know real time if there is someone in it......they need to know so that they can route IFR traffic properly. We activate it for this purpose, as well as to prevent a violation of 91.303.

The point you got across was that you are upset about the existence of MOA's, and have some pretty inaccurate views of the way that we see the issue on the military side. You've repeatedly taken our comments well out of context, adding meaning that wasn't there. I honestly think we have been nearly in agreement this entire time, had you not been so busy trying to convince yourself that we were not.....I don't know how much more clearly I can say "we all share MOAs, please help us share them safely. It is everyone's responsibility to know who is out there, and how to avoid one another". Do you have any issue with those statements?
 
At least I got that point across to you and Evil..;)..

I still contend there is an VERY easy way to notify any traffic wanting real time status information on whether any MOA is hot, or not.... Find the center, or someplace close. Install a small antenna and a simple transmitter /receiver. Use the same circuitry that all airports use for pilot controlled lighting and a simple digital recording.....

Any incoming military aircraft can use a discrete freq to start the recording.. Each click buys you 10 minutes of duration on the recording.. ya gonna do a quick fly in and out.. Click the PTT once... Ya gonna linger for an hour and practice stuff, click it 6 times... For the cost of about 20 gallons of JetA I can probably whip some out.. You think the Dept of Defense can spare a couple of hundred bucks out of their 600 BILLION dollar budget..:dunno:

How is your proposed system more efficient (both fiscally and operationally) than the current system of checking a NOTAM and consequently calling the controlling facility?
 
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