R-2908 by Pensacola - what's it for?

[taxi1]

Some drone folks want to fly there (science), and asked me about it just because. I checked, it's non-continuous according to my Foreflight map stuff. Wondering what its purpose is, in case any Pcola folks know.



Edit: nevermind as I did my own googling. Pretty cool a squadron has their own private airspace...I thought they did all of their practice over at Choctaw.

Using agency. U.S. Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron, Pensacola NAS, FL.

 

[Pags]

Some drone folks want to fly there (science), and asked me about it just because. I checked, it's non-continuous according to my Foreflight map stuff. Wondering what its purpose is, in case any Pcola folks know.

View attachment 30582

Edit: nevermind as I did my own googling. Pretty cool a squadron has their own private airspace...I thought they did all of their practice over at Choctaw.

Using agency. U.S. Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron, Pensacola NAS, FL.

You should look at Eglin MOAs, we flew MQ-8s down there for some MIW testing a few years ago.

 

[Sam I am]

Man...don't make me google it too. lol Paul Harvey this MF'er and tell us "the rest of the story...". ?

 

[flgator92]

Blue Angels use it. Or so says a couple instructors at VT-86...

 

[Python]

Blues use it.

 

[Griz882]

Take offs must be a hoot for the guy with that Seaplane Base...Little Lagoon!

 

[taxi1]

Blues use it.

Do they actually? Or do they hang mostly at Choctaw?

I guess for practicing for a shoreline show, it makes great sense.

 

[jollygreen07]

Yes, they use it. All the time. They close NPA to practice for an hour many days of the week, also. Definitely not a pain in the ass for the four other squadrons based there.

 

[Python]

Do they actually? Or do they hang mostly at Choctaw?

I guess for practicing for a shoreline show, it makes great sense.

@jollygreen07 nailed it

 

[jmcquate]

How much time during the show season do they get to come back to PCola and practice?

 

[Meyerkord]

Can confirm the blues use it. I was flying along the beach and had two of them break right in front of me from over the water. It was pretty cool.

 

[Flash]

How much time during the show season do they get to come back to PCola and practice?

They come home pretty much every week during show season, their schedule and the setup involved was described in detail in this book which is a great behind the scenes look at the team. Almost every Tuesday and Wednesday during the season they do a practice show, the museum even has stands set up so folks can watch the practice shows.

 

[jmcquate]

Thanks Flash, I was working off of the "A Year in The Life" TV series.

 

[Jim123]

Do they actually? Or do they hang mostly at Choctaw?

I guess for practicing for a shoreline show, it makes great sense.

They use both. I don't know exactly how they choose one or the other but I'm guessing weather and the arrival/departure flows into PNS (and NPA). The beach line out there that ends in Ft. Morgan (the blue dot that is inadvertently making a hat for the capital A in A-292) makes a pretty good section line for aerobatics- obviously that's one of the big attractions of that stretch for the Blues' practice.

It's one of my favorite old trivia questions on VFR sectional charts- educational trivia questions when I'd hint to the answer for my studs to apply their chart knowledge but also use their noggin and show them that they probably understand more than they give themselves credit for, as opposed to stump the chump charts (which really only ever establish that the asker is not a nice person).

The special use airspaces for the captive balloon near Key West is another good one (a significant vertical hazard, unseen), so is the space radar at the middle of R2917 (that one's a serious radiation hazard). IR-57-59 is another local goodie, it's called the Son Tay Line- line as in low level route for training mission, Son Tay as in the Son Tay POW prison raid... the namesake of that nav route is a good thirty second history lesson that I'd use to inspire my students' curiosity about their heritage (and encourage them to google in when they got home). Flying over the USS Massachusetts is another local goodie, it's about ten miles straight out the Pensacola Pass on the right side, near one of the green channel markers.

Lots of cool stuff, a lot of it is charted on the sectional but not obvious, some of it is not on there.

 

[0621 Hertz]

Speaking of the local airspace. Does anyone know what happens at NOLF Wolf and Silverhill? On the VFR charts they are labeled as "U" for "unverified", and if I recall correctly the TW5 IFG said they can be used for low approach PELs but not for landings. Despite this, I don't know a single IP or student that used it. One IP I asked forgot it even existed. It looks like the runways were never extended to accept T-6s

Which begs the question, why does the Navy still maintain them? The runways are marked with Xs but the pavement isn't overgrown by vegetation and the grass there is still cut on a regular basis.