Monitoring the Buckeye and Brush Creek MOAs

 

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]

127th 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.

DoD Plans Affect Area Units and Bases

With the Department of Defense making big cuts to Air Force infrastructure, many milair monitors in and around Ohio may experience a big decrease in local activity.

At this point all plans are 'Unofficial' but it appears that the DoD seeks to make heavy cuts involving over 100 A-10 aircraft including squadrons. Two squadrons are neighbors to Ohio, the 163rd FS 'Blacksnakes' from the Indiana Air National Guard at Fort Wayne and the 107th FS based at Selfridge Air Base for the Michigan ANG. Both units recently converted to the A-10 from the F-16.

The A-10 'Warthog' began flying operations in the 70s with its mission to providing
close air support for ground troops. Other squadrons that maybe affected are the 184th Arkansas ANG at Fort Smith, the USAFE's 81st FS at Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany and the AFRC's 47th FS at Barksdale AFB.

Possible good news for the 163rd FS and Fort Wayne, is that the unit could pick up the mission of the MC-12 flying nine to eleven aircraft beginning in October 2013. The MC-12 is a turboprop plane that provides intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance information for ground forces. It just entered operational flying status in 2009.

180th FW Goes On The Alert

Since that faithful day on Tuesday September 11, 2001 the 127th Fighter Wing based at Selfridge ANGB in Michigan has been on alert status protecting the local skies to identify or intercept unresponsive or threatening aircraft. With the 127th FW transitioning to the A-10 Thunderbolt in accordance with the 2005 BRAC, they will no longer be flying the F-16 by the end of 2008. They have turned the alert mission over to the 180th FW of the Ohio Air National Guard based in Toledo. The offical mission hand off took place on October 2, 2008.