The other choice is the call to prayers five times a day.
Three residents of neighborhoods near Davis-Monthan Air Force Base have filed for an injunction in federal court, seeking to stop the Air Force from increasing the number of flight operations on base.
Rita Ornelas, Gary Hunter and Anita Scales filed the complaint Friday with the U.S. District Court of Arizona, saying that the Air Force failed to follow federal guidelines when it approved a plan last year to increase the number of operations.
The Arizona Center for Law in the Public Interest, a nonprofit firm that focuses on government accountability, is representing the plaintiffs.
In May 2015, the Air Force approved an updated plan for the Total Force Training Mission for Visiting Units at D-M, which, according to the neighbors’ complaint, would almost quadruple the number of flight operations from visiting jets.
The plan would increase the number of sorties, a complete flight operation from takeoff to landing, to 2,326, the complaint says. That number would be the maximum and could be smaller, the Air Force has said.
The plaintiffs say the Air Force failed to comply with National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) regulations, including an environmental-impact study of the increased operations.
Capt. Casey Osborne, chief of public affairs for the 355th Fighter Wing at D-M, responded Saturday: “Davis-Monthan Air Force Base fully complied with all applicable laws when conducting its Total Force Training Environmental Assessment.
At this time the Air Force will not comment on the specifics of pending litigation.
“Our airmen are privileged to be members of the local community and we pride ourselves on the strong positive relationships we share with all of our Tucson partners,” Osborne continued.
“The Environmental Assessment places a cap on the total number of annual Total Force Training flights. It should be noted that even if we reach that cap, all Total Force Training flights combined would represent less than 6 percent of the total annual D-M air field operations numbers.”
In May 2015, the Air Force Air Combat Command issued a final environmental report on the proposed expansion of visiting-plane training at Davis-Monthan, finding that raising the number of annual sorties up to 65 percent will pose no significant environmental issues.
In their court filing, the plaintiffs say the Air Force didn’t follow its own guidelines and provide proper notification to the communities that would be affected by the increased operations.