Wednesday, August 26, 2009

NORAD Flight Exercise Planned For Washington, D.C.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command and its geographical
component, the Continental U.S. NORAD Region, will conduct training flight
exercises on Thursday, Aug. 27 in the National Capital Region (NCR), Washington,
D.C. Exercise Falcon Virgo 09-11will occur between midnight and 2 a.m. EDT.


The exercise comprises of a series of training flights held in
coordination with the Federal Aviation Administration, the National Capital Region
Command Center, the Joint Air Defense Operations Center, the Continental U.S.
NORAD Region (CONR), Civil Air Patrol, U.S. Coast Guard and CONR's Eastern
Air Defense Sector.

Exercise Falcon Virgo is designed to hone NORAD's intercept and
identification operations, as well as procedural tests of the NCR Visual Warning
System. The exercise includes two Civil Air Patrol Cessna aircraft and one
Coast Guard HH-65 Dolphin helicopter.

Residents may see these aircraft approaching and flying in the vicinity of
the Washington, D.C., area as part of this exercise during the late night
and early morning hours and continuing through the scheduled exercise
hours.

In the event of inclement weather, the exercise will push to the next day.