AICUZ

AICUZGMI’s Air Installation Compatible Use Zone (AICUZ) program was developed to support the Department of Defense (DOD) AICUZ discretionary program, which is designed to promote compatible land use around military airfields. The DOD maintains an AICUZ program in an effort to protect the operational integrity of their flying mission and is guided by DOD Instruction 4165.57 much like the Federal Aviation Administration’s Federal Aviation Regulation Part 150 program for civil airports. It’s important to recognize that the AICUZ program is a land use planning program not a land acquisition or land management program. GMI’s expertise includes:
  • Land use analysis
  • Airspace analysis
  • AICUZ
  • Aircraft noise modeling
  • Public hearing / meeting management

Related Project

Air Installation Compatible Use Zone

GMI collected, processed, and analyzed aircraft operational data for six Air Force bases as part of the AICUZ program. The Department of Defense established the AICUZ program in response to the Noise Control Act of 1972 and growing incompatible urban development (encroachment) around military airfields.

The primary parameters addressed in these studies were:

  • Aircraft noise
  • Accident potential zones (i.e., area beyond the airfield runway where an aircraft mishap is most likely to occur)
  • Socioeconomic data
  • Land use development

During data collection trips, interviews were conducted with personnel in air traffic control, airfield management, and operations (pilots, schedulers, maintenance personnel) to develop a comprehensive set of operation data that describes how frequently and in what manner the specific aircraft based at an installation operate. The data collection process also captures the profile characteristics of operations (airspeed, elevation and power settings at various points along the flight tracks employed by the installations’ pilots).

To model the predicted noise exposure, GMI collected data for relevant airspace classifications in the vicinity (to include FAA Part 77 imaginary surfaces that govern maximum obstruction heights in the vicinity of airfields) and the existing land use development patterns as well as future land use planning efforts adjacent to the installations.

The results each AICUZ study consist of a report and an implementation/maintenance plan. A citizen’s brochure and public release was also prepared. This program works to protect aircraft operational capabilities at its installations and to assist local governments in protecting and promoting public health, safety, and quality of life.