The Wickenburg meeting is this Thursday (Feb. 25) at the Wickenburg High School Media Center, at 1090 S. Vulture Mine Road. This is an open-house scoping meeting and will be held from 6 to 9 p.m. to provide the public an opportunity to learn about F-35s and to provide input to help define the proposed action and alternatives. Other meetings are being held around the valley. For meeting locations call 623-856-6169 or visit http://lukeforward.com/.

Residents are encouraged to attend one or more of these meetings and to complete comment forms that will be used during the process of the Environmental Impact Study conducted regarding the F-35s and the mission’s potential impact on the area. Residents’ comments are needed to assist the Air Force in making more informed decisions and can be mailed by March 25 to David Martin, HQ AETC/A7PP, 266 F Street West, Randolph, AFB, TX 78150-4319. Comment forms may be obtained at http://lukeforward.com/

According to Luke’s Web site, Lockheed Martin, the F-35’s manufacturer, in conjunction with the Air Force Research Lab, conducted an aircraft acoustics study on the F-35 in October 2008 at Edwards Air Force Base in California. The study concluded that the F-35 is only “slightly louder (less than 10 percent) than the F-16s currently stationed at Luke AFB. The study noted that acoustic levels experienced by the public depend on a number of conditions…. The Air Force is in the process of validating the study results.”

The Web site goes on to explain that the takeoffs and landings, as well as flight patterns and number of daily training flights will largely remain the same. Typically Luke’s training flights occur between the hours of 7 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. “Flights may occur on weekends, due to training mission requirements. Luke flies between 125-150 training missions (referred to in the military as “sorties”) a day, which can result in more than 400 flights over the local area daily.”

All area residents are encouraged to attend one or more of these initial scoping meetings and to fill out a response card. Visit www.lukeforward.com for more information.

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