New Navy trainer will need more room

The switch to a more powerful Navy training aircraft will require an expansion of runways and safety zones in outlying fields. Starting this year Naval Air Station Whiting Field in Milton, Fla., which does preliminary training for military pilots, will begin a four-year switch from the T-34C to the T-6B trainer. Whiting runs 13 outlying fields in the region, where pilots do touch-and-go landings, maneuvers and other exercises. Four of those fields are in Baldwin County, Ala., between Pensacola, Fla., and Mobile, Ala. The number of training flights will also increase. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 01/17/09)