Submitted by NAS Whidbey Island
There has been a change to aircraft carrier-based flight training for aircraft stationed at NAS Whidbey Island for Saturday, Sept. 17. Aircraft carrier-based flight training is now scheduled that morning. Next week’s scheduled for Ault Field follows below. No Field Carrier Landing Practice at the Outlying Field in Coupeville is scheduled to occur next week.
People living in local communities should remain aware that the aforementioned operations are not the only operations out of NAS Whidbey Island, particularly at Ault Field, which is a 24-hour-a-day operational facility. There are many other training evolutions that people may hear. However the aircraft carrier flight training operations are types of operations that involve lower altitude flight training in close vicinity to the airfield.
Ault Field carrier operations
- Saturday, Sept. 17 – morning.
- Monday, Sept. 19 – late afternoon.
- Tuesday, Sept. 20 – late afternoon.
- Wednesday, Sept. 21 – late afternoon.
- Thursday, Sept. 22 – late afternoon.
The base will make every effort to let the community know if there are additions to published schedules.
The FCLP and other carrier-based training tempos are driven by the Fleet Replacement Squadron student training curriculum and pre-deployment carrier EA-18G Growler squadron flight qualifications. It can also fluctuate due to weather, maintenance and operational requirements.
Routine repairs to complete required maintenance on Runways 07/25 are still ongoing until the end of September 2016. While runways 07/25 are closed aircraft will be taking off and landing using the remaining runways 14/32 heading either Northwest or Southeast. This takeoff and landing approach will result in increased activity over eastern Oak Harbor, northern Camano Island, Anacortes, La Conner and Lopez Island.
NAS Whidbey Island remains open continuously to support flight operations and training. FCLP and Carrier Controlled Approach schedules for OLF Coupeville and Ault Field will continue to be released weekly for community planning purposes. Comments, including noise complaints can be directed to NAS Whidbey Island’s comment line at (360) 257-6665, or via e-mail: comments.NASWI@navy.mil.
Comments regarding flight operations should note the time an event occurred, where exactly the event occurred and as much detail as possible about what was seen. We also ask that people leave their contact information for our tracking purposes. All other questions can be directed to NAS Whidbey Island Public Affairs Office at (360) 257-2286.
The Navy’s OLF at Coupeville is a critical national security asset that provides essential training for Navy pilots based at NAS Whidbey Island to conduct safe and effective aircraft carrier flight operations around the world.
