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.

OPENING DAY IN CINCINNATI

It's officially a holiday in Cincinnati! The Reds play the Brewers with the first pitch at 2:05 PM for the start of the 2011 Major League Baseball season.

Member Jared Soergel has the details for the pre-game flyover:

VFA-131 will be performing a flyover for Opening Day 2011. The standard procedure for flyovers at GABP is to orbit overhead of Lunken Field (KLUK), then depart on a 270-degree heading directly to the stadium. Most often, aircraft will stage from Lunken itself.

The lead aircraft will be communicating timing with the ground controller (probably on UHF discrete), and making the inbound call with CVG Approach. In some cases, another aircraft in the flight will monitor Lunken Tower for traffic advisories.

Freqs to listen for:
CVG Class B: 121.000/254.250
RCO's: 124.900 (Clermont Co., Blue Ash, Lunken), 126.250 (Butler Co.)
KLUK Tower: 118.700/257.800
KLUK Ground: 121.900
VFA-131: 235.400, 239.875, 264.350, 285.500, 285.800, 339.400, 357.800
Flyover common: 123.450, 282.800

OPENING DAY FLYOVER

Four F-16s from the Ohio National Guard's 178th FW based at Springfield-Beckley MAP will conduct a pre-game fly over of Great American Ballpark. The first pitch is scheduled for 1:10 PM so expect the fly over few minutes before then. Keep an ear on CVG frequencies and Indy ARTCC as well as air to air in the 138-143 MHz range.

Try these for activity:

118.300     CVG Tower
118.850     DAY pproach/Departure
120.700     SGH Tower
123.875     CVG Approach
123.925     ZID ARTCC Merwyn RCAG
126.650     CVG Approach
128.700     CVG Approach
254.250     CVG Approach
281.400     ZID ARTCC Merwyn RCAG
290.500     ZID ARTCC Merwyn RCAG
363.150     CVG Approach
383.100     SGH Tower

Photo courtesy of Blues Skies Aerial Photography

Local 123rd ACS OHANG Heading to Iraq

Members of the 123rd Air Control Squadron of the Ohio Air National Guard based at Blue Ash Airport have been called to active duty and will soon deploy to Iraq. They will operate an air traffic control center and provide radar data to ground troops on military air traffic.

The 123rd ACS controls the Brush Creek and Buckeye Military Operations Areas (MOA) [R-5503 A/B] located to the east of Cincinnati.