<http://forums.radioreference.com/threads/development-threatens-buckley-afb-mission.43851/>
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"Development Threatens Buckley AFB Mission\nOnce again, people build homes at the end of a runway\n \nBuckley Air Force Base in Aurora stands to lose its Colorado Air National Guard F-16 fighter jet unit if a plan to build homes under the flight pattern of the field goes forward.\nThe Air Force sent a letter to Buckley officials last month warning them that, if the 1,000-home Murphy Creek North development, planned for land less than a mile from a runway's end, is built, it would pull the base's 18 fighter aircraft. \n\nThe aircraft would turn final at about 1,700 feet AGL over the development, which is currently zoned for research and development. The builders have applied for a zoning change, and Aurora's city planning commission has advised the council to deny it. \nThe F-16s are currently on 24-hour alert status and fully armed at all times. They typically fly Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays as well as one weekend a month on training missions. \n \nThe unit has already moved once, when development forced it out of Lowry Air Force Base in 1966. \n \nIn 1942, when Buckley opened, it was over 5,700 acres in the middle of nowhere. That's changed, and the field is surrounded now. Development (and the opening of the new Denver International Airport in 1996) forced the base to shut down an east-west runway. \n \nAircraft currently use somewhat extreme noise-abatement procedures in an effort to keep neighbors' complaints at bay. Those neighbors were informed when they bought their homes that they were subject to jet noise.\n \nAurora's Mayor, Ed Tauer, told the Denver Post, \"I hope that we can find something that works with the Air Force and keeps the city vibrant.\"\n \nThe Air Force will be at the Aurora City Council meeting on August 28 to ask the members to deny the zoning-change request."
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