Every year, pilots newly arrived at NATO Air Base Geilenkirchen receive conversion training so that they are qualified to fly the E-3A AWACS aircraft. In addition, qualified pilots have to maintain their professional skills by accomplishing training flights. The most important aspects of pilot training include air refuelling, takeoff and landing. In numerical terms the training flight requirement is determined by the number of pilots and the duration of their assignment to the E-3A Component.

The E-3A Component is definitely in favour of longer assignments for pilots. The advantage of this is that each year fewer pilots would need to be trained, which would save money and reduce noise pollution. However, each participating NATO nation makes its own decision on the duration of assignments. The Component cannot influence this decision-making process. 

At NATO Air Base Geilenkirchen the normal hours for flight operations are from 08:00 until 22:00 hrs Mondays to Fridays. The quiet hours are from 22:00 hrs until 08:00 hrs on weekdays and throughout the weekend. Aircraft noise has an impact on the local area around the air base. That is why we make every effort to minimize such disturbance outside the standard opening hours for the base. The number of flights outside normal opening hours is not more than 30 per year. Deviations from this policy are only permitted in case of operational necessity.

For financial and instructional reasons our home base in Geilenkirchen is the preferred location for executing the majority of the training. Nevertheless, we try to limit the number of flight movements here whenever possible, while taking account of our taskings. In 2011, more than 65% of all our flight movements were "exported” to other airfields. The permitted number of flight movements over Dutch territory is specified in a formal agreement between the Netherlands’ Ministry of Defence and the municipal authority of Onderbanken. The E-3A Component is not a signatory of this agreement, but it does abide by it. The previous version of the formal agreement specified a maximum of 3600 flight movements per year over Dutch territory. In 2009, this was reduced to the current level of 2996. In 2015 the Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) decided that the amount of flights would be reduced to 2600 flight movements.

There are no limits on the total number of flight movements, although agreements with the Netherlands do specify the maximum number of flight movements over Dutch territory. The total number of flight movements per year is determined by the number of pilots who have to be instructed and trained. With full manning of pilot posts we accomplish about 17,000 flight movements per year. Approximately half of these are executed in the flight simulator. Of the remaining ‘real’ flight movements, i.e. those executed with AWACS aircraft, about 65 % are ‘exported’. The remainder are routed over the Netherlands, subject to voluntary compliance with the specified maximum number. The present maximum is 2600 flight movements per year. Normally the number of actual flight movement will be lower as a result of action to combine operations and the usual ‘export’ of noise.

The maximum of 2600 flight movements per year is calculated on the basis of all the days when the base is open at normal times. The actual number of flight movements per day depends on very many factors. The most important of these is the need to train pilots in flying over the local area around Geilenkirchen, where they have to be able operate even in bad weather conditions. Furthermore the weather in Geilenkirchen and at other European airfields, as well as the availability of those airfields, is an important aspect for ‘exporting’ the noise we make. Visibility, wind and rain are the most important factors determining whether flying is possible. Whether or not the sun is shining makes no difference. If we only flew on cloudy days, our training needs would require far more and people would then experience far more disturbance.

It is well known that an increase in the number of flight movements per day results in a steeper rise in the number of complaints. That is why the E-3A Component makes efforts to distribute as evenly as possible the number of flight movements passing over Dutch territory. The Commander has imposed additional restrictions for this purpose. A training flight is not allowed to involve more than 5 practice takeoffs and landings. An operational flight is only allowed two at most. But the weather and the availability of another airfield are also important aspects in this respect. If two or three training flights are taking place on the same day and other airfields report being unable to accept a sufficient number of AWACS flights, or if the weather in other locations is bad, then there may be more than the average 12 flight movements in Geilenkirchen on that day.

The amount of real and simulated training to be received by a pilot each year is specified in the local regulations and is partly determined by the total number of years of flying experience. The flight simulator provides realistic conditions, but it is unable to fully replicate all flight manoeuvres. In particular, air refuelling is a typically military skill not practised at all in civil aviation, and a flight simulator is of only limited usefulness for such training. Our flight simulator is used to the maximum extent, both for new pilots’ conversion training and for training qualified pilots. Geilenkirchen Air Base has two flight simulators; one of these has been certified by an independent authority as usable, in some cases, to replace real flight manoeuvres. The transfer of real flight manoeuvres to the simulator has now started and the noisiest movements have been reduced by 75 %. Further transfer of real flight manoeuvres to the simulator will take place step by step, in order to ensure flight safety. The next step will occur after the second flight simulator is taken into service in the middle of this year.

Aircraft follow specified procedures (flight patterns) during takeoff and landing. These procedures have been laid down in consultation with the AWACS-Limburg Committee (CAL) and ensure that the aircraft can depart and land safely in all weather conditions. For residents of Brunssum and Onderbanken this means that departing and incoming aircraft fly through a specified tolerance zone between the two inhabited urban areas. This tolerance zone contains a number of houses situated on the edge of the built-up areas. It may happen that these houses are occasionally overflown, particularly during takeoff, but it goes without saying that aircraft are always intended to remain within the boundaries of the tolerance zone. Sometimes it happens that flights pass over a larger number of houses, perhaps due to an instruction from air traffic control (to maintain a safe distance from other aircraft) or to a situation in which, for example, the pilot decides to deviate from the takeoff procedure to avoid a flock of birds or a hot air balloon. As an aircraft may be deflected by the wind, it can also happen that a pilot misjudges the situation and flies beyond the boundary of the tolerance zone. Every violation is reported and investigated.

As a result of this and other questions about flight patterns, a number of different takeoffs and landings were trialled in 2008. A panel of local residents were then asked which types of flight movement they regarded as having caused the greatest disturbance. Turning to the right immediately after takeoff can only be performed by aircraft with a low takeoff weight. This only applies to planes that are going to land at the base again immediately after performing a few manoeuvres over Geilenkirchen. With the vast majority of training flight movements this is not the case, and an early turn is not feasible. It was also ascertained that when an aircraft makes an early turn to the right, the engines are directly toward the inhabited area of Schinveld, which means that local residents experience much more noise than when departing aircraft fly straight between Brunssum and Schinveld.

The E-3A Component aims to be a good neighbour and operates a strict noise reduction policy. Among other things, this means that we minimize the number of operational and training flights at Geilenkirchen Air Base, and we have initiated other noise reduction measures. The number of training flights at Geilenkirchen is being diminished by increasing the use of simulators and by transferring many training flights to other airfields elsewhere in Europe and in North America. We describe this as ‘exporting noise’. In 2011, about 65% of all flights were transferred to other airfields for this purpose. This ‘export’ costs the Component millions of euros per year in fuel costs alone. Increasing it further would not only be unaffordable but would also hamper the training programmes for pilots and for the base’s air traffic control personnel, who are also required to maintain their professional skills and certification.

The NATO E-3A AWACS aircraft, purchased about 35 years ago, have been constantly modernized. As a result, this version of the aircraft is the most modern and versatile AWACS currently in service. Our planes are operated for only a fraction of the number of flight hours performed by civil aircraft, and they are maintained to the strictest standards. The NATO AWACS is therefore an especially safe aircraft. Throughout the 35-year existence of the NATO E-3A Component (in which the AWACS planes have accumulated about 350,000 flying hours), there have been no aircraft accidents involving fatal injury or damage to civil property. During that time, one NATO AWACS E-3A aircraft was involved an accident on the runway at Preveza, Greece, when it collided with a large number of birds during takeoff. As a result, the plane slid off the runway and was subsequently written off.