The skies over southern Ohio have provided milair communication monitors with steady activity for years and continues to today. Times have changed somewhat from a few years ago, when the 178th Fighter Wing of the Ohio Air National Guard were the main attraction. The 178th no longer fills the skies with F-16s, they are transitioning to an Intelligence and Reconnaissance Wing, soon to remotely fly the MQ-1 Predator drone. So, who do we listen to now? Let us take a look at how the airspace is used and who is using it now.
Buckeye Military Operations Area (MOA) is FAA regulated airspace over southern Ohio for use by a variety of military flying units for training in Aircraft Combat Maneuvers (ACM) and Aerial Refueling (AR).
Buckeye MOA and the interconnecting Brush Creek MOA are controlled by Indianapolis ARTCC (Indy Center, ZID). For the most part the two MOAs are mainly used by the 180th Fighter Wing of the Ohio Air National Guard based at Toledo, flying the F-16C/D 'Fighting Falcon'.
Other units using the MOAs on occasion are the 163rd Fighter Squadron based in Fort Wayne, and the 107th Fighter Squadron based at Selfridge Air National Guard Base, Michigan. Both of these units fly the A-10 'Thunderbolt II' aircraft.
The 123rd Air Control Squadron (ACS) of the Ohio Air National Guard based in the northern
Cincinnati community of Blue Ash, sometimes conducts training and controls aircraft within
Buckeye and Brush Creek MOAs. They use the callsign 'BLUE ASH'.
The western edge of Buckeye MOA is 35 miles east of downtown Cincinnati.
Normally the airspace is used at least four days each week; Monday-Thursday on normal weeks, Tuesday-Friday on weeks after a UTA weekend (during which they will fly on Saturday and Sunday). Occasional nighttime sorites are also conducted.MOAs are scheduled for the time active. They are for aircraft only. ATCAAs are pretty much the same concept, but they are used to extend the boundaries of MOAs (like the CHARLIE Shelf in Buckeye used for refueling).
BUCKEYE MOA/BRUSH CREEK MOA:
225.700 Brush Creek Tac
290.500 ZID Sector 69 (Pike Low)
316.125 Buckeye Tac*
343.800 Buckeye Aerial Refueling
*316.125 is assigned as a discrete to the Pike Low sector (Sector 69).
123rd ACS - callsign: BLUE ASH
240.350 GCI primary
283.800 GCI secondary
364.200 AICC
Blue Ash also has SATCOM capability, and was heard doing radio checks on
258.650d/299.650u in April 2013...however, usage is rare.
180th FW (112th FS) - callsigns: STING, BUZZ, BUCKEYE, MUDDY (NORAD),
LOMA (travel)
141.650 Ops [Aux 1]
338.150 Ops [Pri 1]
248.650 Tac [Aux 6]
312.175 Tac [Aux 7]
357.100 Tac [Aux 8]
367.500 Tac [Aux 9]
139.625 Victor 6*
139.975 Victor 7*
141.600 Victor 8*
138.425 Victor 9*
228.900 NORAD Secondary (primary for training)
260.900 NORAD Primary
260.725d/294.325u NORAD CONR-2 (SATCOM)
*These are the old tactical freqs, but they still see occasional use.
Buckeye/Brush Creek presets: 316.125 [7], 240.350 [8], 290.500 [9], 225.700 [16]
1
27th WG (107th FS) - callsigns: DEMON, TEJAS, YALTA, BOSUN, HOWDY
273.000 DEMON Tac [button 11]
326.000 TEJAS Tac [button 12]
307.600 YALTA Tac [button 13]
368.000 BOSUN Tac [button 14]
314.400 HOWDY Tac [button 19]
349.400 Tac - this is a common AMC CP frequency
Buckeye/Brush Creek presets: 290.500 [21], 316.125 [22], 240.350 [23], 225.700 [24]
To find out when the MOAs are scheduled for activity;
1. Go to
http://sua.faa.gov/sua/siteFrame.app
2. On the right side of the map, click the "+" for "States" and select Ohio.
It will zoom automatically.
3. Just below "States," click the "+" for "Map Layers." In most cases, you should select
the following.
Click "Update Map" when complete.
- Airspace Types: Air Traffic Control Assigned Airspace, Aerial Refueling Route,
Military Operations Area, Other
- Altitude Types: all
- Activation Types: as desired, but do NOT select "Not Scheduled"
4. Hovering over depicted airspace will show the name.
Clicking on it will display the Zulu times.
If you have any additional tips, tricks or info, please share it in the comments.
*SPECIAL THANKS to Jared Soergel (@jsoergel949) for providing material for this article.
