Fighting Falcons' temporary nest: DIA Buckley AFB F-16s take up residence as runways improved By Dominic Weilminster, Rocky Mountain News June 11, 2003 Sleek, sharp curves make Buckley Air Force Base's F-16 squadron look like Ferraris parked in a lot of buslike jumbo jets. But their presence at Denver International Airport so far has caused little commotion. The 15 fighters are stationed away from home temporarily while their runway system is revamped. "Everything is really integrated well," said Maj. Jerome Dyck, acting public affairs spokesman for the squadron. According to Dyck, despite minor delays for F-16 practice flights to accommodate airliners, there have been almost no problems coordinating Air Force, commercial and cargo flights. That's thanks to a lot of planning, said DIA spokesman Chuck Cannon. "Moving these (planes) out here took a lot of planning and a lot of meetings." Most of the scheduling between Buckley and DIA has been integrated to accommodate the variety of flights going in and out of DIA. Each of the F-16s is scheduled to fly about 18 times a month. "For normal training, everything has been prescheduled with DIA," F-16 pilot Capt. Brett Berringer said. Despite where they take off and land, the routines of the F-16 group and other air traffic at DIA have remained largely the same. At DIA, the F-16s are occupying a deicing pad in the southeast corner of the airport that is rarely used in summer months. Repairs at Buckley are scheduled to take until the end of August. The use of the pad and accompanying hangar have come courtesy the city of Denver. According to Mike McKee from DIA's noise-abatement office, the F-16s have resulted in just one noise complaint from Kiowa, a place normally flown over by fighters leaving from Buckley. A number of the F-16s stand on constant alert as part of Operation Noble Eagle for homeland defense. *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) escape email mailto:ejames@xxxxxxxxx Trinbago site: www.tntisland.com Carib Brass Ctn site www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ Steel Expressions www.mts.net/~ejames/se/ Mas Site: www.tntisland.com/tntrecords/mas2003/ Site of the Week: http://www.natalielaughlin.com/ TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************