[CPEO-MEF] ENERGY, ENCROACHMENT: Wind farms and pilot training

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Wind farms may endanger pilots

Opinion by Dick Messbarger
Corpus Christi Caller Times (TX)
December 5, 2009

"Is anyone looking at wind farms from a pilot training standpoint?" was 
the question and stunned silence was the answer. The question came 
during a discussion on encroachment last month at the Department of 
Defense (DOD) Community Conference in Orlando, Fla.

For example, did you know that placing wind turbines between 5 and 8 
miles from an airfield creates "blind spots" due to the clutter created 
on the radar screen? Air traffic controllers can adjust clutter maps to 
account for this, but "driving up" these maps will mean that an airplane 
on the radar screen will have to produce stronger return than the 
turbine before you would see it on the radar scope. Think of it as 
turning the squelch up on a radio you wouldn't hear anyone trying to 
contact you until they were right next to you.

Col. Ed Chupein, chief of Air Force Ranges and Airspace, spoke to the 
600 community leaders gathered in Orlando for the conference about the 
effects of operating wind farms in the vicinity of a military air base. 
He explained that the specific effect of wind turbines in proximity to 
the airfield is on the Digital Air Surveillance Radar, Precision 
Approach Radar, and other navigational aids. It is exacerbated with 
height and numbers of wind turbines, but especially by location.

...

For the entire column, see
http://www.caller.com/news/2009/dec/05/wind-farms-may-endanger-pilots/

--


Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org



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