DATE: Friday, February 28, 1997             TAG: 9702280630

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B2   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 

DATELINE: HAMPTON                           LENGTH:   31 lines

AIR FORCE DROPS PLAN TO INCREASE FLIGHTS OVER HIGHLAND COUNTY

The Air Force on Thursday withdrew a plan to drastically increase the number of fighter jet training flights over a sparsely populated area of western Virginia and eastern West Virginia.

The plan to increase the flights from fewer than 70 to as many as 2,268 a year had drawn protests from residents who said it would hurt tourism, reduce the value of vacation homes, cause cattle to stampede and literally scare flocks of turkeys to death.

``The Air Force's environmental assessment was fatally flawed,'' said U.S. Rep. Robert Goodlatte. ``It did not consider the huge impact that these flights would have on the local poultry and livestock industries, the environment, local tourism, or most important, the quality of life of the folks who live there.''

The military's environmental assessment, conducted in June, concluded that the increasing noise and jet emissions would do no significant harm to the plants, wildlife and air quality and have no impact on recreational use of the land.

The Evers Military Operations Area includes most of Highland County, Virginia's least populated county, and parts of adjoining counties in Virginia and West Virginia. Most of the jets that would have flown over the area would have been F-15s from Langley Air Force Base in Hampton, whose pilots need to practice flying below mountain ridges to hide from enemy radar.

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