White Elk Military Operating Area - 08/22/07

BRRC wins contract to develop Noise and Sonic Boom Analysis for Proposed White Elk MOA.

Description

The United States Air Force is considering an expansion of training by creating a new Military Operating Area (MOA) on the west side of the Utah Test and Training Range in White Pine and Elko Counties, Nevada. This expansion will include a request for a waiver for supersonic flight operations within the White Elk Air Traffic Control Assigned Airspace (ATCAA).

Purpose

This technical note documents the noise and sonic boom analysis based on the proposed operations expected to occur within the new White Elk MOA and ATCAA airspaces. This note inncludes a description of current and proposed flight operations in the airspace, the resulting On-set Rate Adjusted Day Night Average Sound Level (Ldnmr), the resulting C-weighted Day Night Average Sound Level (LCdn) contours from supersonic operations, and representative noise levels at a select number of specific locations in and around the proposed airspace.

Approach

Based on the operational description for the current and proposed airspace, noise and sonic boom analysis were conducted to describe the change in the acoustical environment in and around the White Elk MOA and ATCAA. These analyses involve long-term noise estimates along with supplemental descriptions of the potentiall aircraft noise and sonic boom levels. For the aircraft noise analysis, DoD's MR_NMAP noise model (Lucas & 1966) was used to calculate the expected aircraft noise levels for subsonic operations with the airspace. For the supersonic operational analysis. AF's BOOMAP model (Plotkin, 1966) was employed for calculating the long-term sonic boom exposure contours.

White Elk Military Operating Area Airspace Extension
Prime: TEC, Inc. Sponsor: US Air Force, Air Combat Command