Land / Air / Sea Spaces (LAS) Shared Airspace with Recreational Aviation
The military manages or uses land and air space to accomplish testing,
training, and operational missions. These resources must be available and of
a sufficient size, cohesiveness, and quality to accommodate effective
training and testing. Military and civilian air and sea operations can
compete for limited air and sea space, especially when the usage areas are
in close proximity to each other. Use of this shared resource can impact
future growth in operations for all users. Seaplane and helicopter tours and other recreation
activities that utilize airspace along the Gulf of Mexico
coastline, such as parasailing and unmanned aerial
vehicles, can potentially cross the Keesler AFB approach
flight paths which increases the risk for mishaps.
As part of the tourism industry on the Gulf Coast, there are companies that
offer helicopter rides throughout Biloxi and companies that provide
seaplane tours over the Gulf Coast. Additionally, other recreation activities,
such as parasailing and recreational use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs),
including such activities on the beach, have the potential to conflict with
military flight operations.
The land, air, and sea spaces used by the military can be owned by the DoD,
designated for DoD use by a federal or state agency, provided through
easements or other agreements with public or private entities, or
maintained as a historic usage right. Public and private requests to share or
assume some of these resources may have a negative impact on military
training and test objectives.
Key Terms
Controlled Airspace. Controlled airspace is airspace of defined dimensions
within which ATC services are provided. The level of control varies with
different classes of airspace. Controlled airspace usually imposes higher
weather minimums than are applicable in uncontrolled airspace. Class D
airspace encompasses Keesler AFB.
General Aviation. General aviation is defined as aviation activity that is not
commercial or military. This term typically covers all civil aviation operations
other than scheduled air services and non‐scheduled air transport
operations for hire.
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) is an
aircraft without a human pilot on board and is sometimes referred to as an
unmanned aircraft system (UAS).
Background Report
ISSUE
LAS‐1
Although seaplane and helicopter tours and parasailing currently do not
share the airspace over Keesler AFB, there is potential for aviation tourism
to impact areas where military flight operations occur. Sharing airspace
could generate more practice opportunities for traffic control at
Keesler AFB; however, there is also potential for the increase in traffic to
create inflight conflict due to crossing flight paths. For low altitude flights,
there may be competition between Keesler AFB training, such as beam
approaches and commercial tourism aviation operations. This could
potentially result in scheduling impacts, midair collision avoidance
maneuvering, or, in a worst case scenario, aircraft mishaps.
The recreational use of UAVs has increased dramatically as they have
become cheaper, smaller, and easier to operate. By 2020, the FAA
anticipates the number of UAVs used in U.S. airspace to reach 30,000 and as
of December 2015, over 406,000 people have registered their UAVs in the
FAA registry. Unmanned aerial vehicle use nearby military installations with
flight operations can create safety risks to personnel and aircraft if not
utilized with care.
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