Whiskey 2-Niner-One
If you’re anything like me and have spent time listening to the tower frequencies at MCAS Miramar (Foss Tower), you’ve likely heard a number of aircraft cleared to restricted area 291. Often referred to as “Whiskey 291,” W-291 is a specific airspace west of San Diego, entirely over the Pacific Ocean. This is where the US Navy conducts business related to Naval warfare that is mostly unbeknownst to civilians like myself.
It became abundantly clear as I began my research that W-291 is one of many pieces of airspace that make up the Southern California (SOCAL) Range Complex. Comprised of special use airspace (SUA), ocean operating areas (OPAREAs), and land area in the form of San Clemente Island (SCI), the SOCAL Range Complex is around 120,000 square nautical miles of earth! Although this article will focus primarily on the airspace, there is a significant amount of Naval surface warfare and sub-surface activity occurring in these parameters. Before we continue, here are a few graphics and maps to familiarize yourself with the space and just how large it really is.
One thing I’d like to highlight is how commercial aircraft utilize routes and waypoints that clearly steer them away from, and around, this airspace. I’d imagine any sort of intrusion from an unknown or unwanted aircraft would be met with a stern message!
This Air Transport International B767 departed KRIV (March Air Reserve Base) en route to Honolulu. You’ll notice it navigates around the restricted air space while heading west.
Aircraft departing KSNA (Santa Ana - John Wayne) that head south, like this Southwest flight to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, must navigate immediately after departure to enter a route that avoids the restricted air space.
So now that we’ve reviewed the geography of the SOCAL Range Complex, let’s look at W-291. The W-291 restricted air space is also very large, even encompassing San Clemente Island. SCI is used extensively for Navy and Marine Corps training, including the island itself and the surrounding waters.
While exploring the depths of the internet for information, I stumbled across a random study by the Navy titled, “Southern California Range Complex Coastal Consistency Determination.” The meat of the piece ultimately pertains to environmental topics, but it does provide a fair amount of detailed information about the airspace. Outlining the Navy’s vision of the complex, which includes W-291, they state, “The region of San Diego, California is home to the largest concentration of U.S. naval forces in the world, and SOCAL Range Complex is the most capable and heavily used Navy range complex in the eastern Pacific region.” The Navy also writes, “Range complexes provide a controlled and safe environment with threat representative targets that enable military units to conduct realistic combat-like training as they undergo all phases of the graduated buildup needed for combat ready deployment. The Navy’s ranges and OPAREAs provide the space necessary to conduct controlled and safe training scenarios representative of those that its personnel would face in actual combat.”
Here’s a graphic with a bit more detail as we start to drill down.
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At this point, we’ve outlined the location of the restricted air space, and that the Navy and Marine Corps perform realistic, live training to best simulate genuine hostilities. It’s only logical to establish dedicated space without the concerns and dangers of mitigating commercial air traffic.
Speaking directly about W-291, the Navy states, “The SOCAL Range Complex includes military airspace designated by the FAA as Warning Area 291, or W-291. W-291 comprises 113,000 nm2 (387,500 km2 ) of SUA that overlays the ocean extending seaward to the southwest beginning approximately 12 nm (22 km) off the coast for a distance of approximately 600 nm (1,111 km). W-291 also overlays SCI. W-291 is the largest component of SUA in the Navy range inventory, facilitating realistic training involving high-speed military aircraft with the capability to traverse extensive airspace very quickly.”
Let’s look at a more detailed description of the specific training functions taking place in W-291:
Per the chart above, fighter aircraft in W-291 are training on air combat maneuvers, air defense exercise, air-to-air missile exercise, and sink exercise (SINKEX). Some of the exercises involve no live ordinance or shots fired, while others like air-to-air missile exercise use AIM-7 Sparrows, AIM-9 Sidewinders, and AIM-120 AMRAAM’s.
The AIM-7 (AIM meaning Air Intercept Missile) Sparrow and AIM-9 Sidewinder are air-to-air missiles, with the primary differences being their range and how they track their targets. The dominance of the AIM-9 has been noteworthy, and in 2002, the U.S. celebrated the missile’s 50th anniversary.
The AIM-120 AMRAAM is the most advanced of the three missiles, a true beyond-visual-range (BVR), fire and forget weapon. I think it’s fair to say fighter aircraft are using these munitions for air-to-air combat training.
Understandably, fighters don’t broadcast their location with any of the civilian flight tracking apps. We know they head to W-291 courtesy of the instructions they receive from ATC heard on radio transmissions.
There are other indicators of the activity occurring in W-291, and those are the flight tracks of numerous support aircraft who do broadcast their locations via ADS-B. Airborne Tactical Advantage Company (ATAC) fighter aircraft, typically Hawker Hunters and IAI Kfir’s, are contracted to play the role of the aggressor, or ‘red air.’ Tankers and other planes whose roles I’m not totally sure of, also transmit their locations in the air space.
Below are a handful of flight tracks for your viewing pleasure:
An Israeli Aircraft Industries Kfir operated by (ATAC) working in W-291
Several Hawker Hunters operated by ATAC maneuver throghout W-291
A USAF Tanker orbits within a refueling track in W-291, no doubt helping top off some thirsty birds
A support aircraft whose role I know essentially nothing about… Perhaps L3Harris??
One of the final topics I wanted to address is one that I hope fellow plane spotters and anyone else exploring aircraft launching from Miramar will find beneficial. It brings this piece back full-circle to listening to the tower at MCAS Miramar, and that would be the departure routes for aircraft heading to W-291.
Depending on your intentions and/or goals, these departure routes can help to A) simply better understand what you’re hearing from the tower, or B) assist in predicting where to point your lens. If an aircraft is tasked with heading east, you can bet it’ll be banking not long after takeoff. If they are indeed heading offshore to W-291, the aircraft will take a more direct route after takeoff, essentially following the 805 North and going feet wet over the Torrey Pines area.
The VITKO3 route appears to be for runway 06 departures only; basically reverse ops. The far more frequent route, due to the predominant regional weather conditions, is a runway 24 departure using SWOLF9. I frequently hear the tower instructing aircraft heading to W-291 to use the ‘Roden’ transition, which according to the route map, takes them directly into the SOCAL Complex and W-291.
That essentially wraps up this blog post and the information a civilian like myself is able to access. Much of this information genuinely helped me decipher a lot of the language and jargon I hear over the radio frequencies, and I hope will be interesting and useful to you as well! Thanks for reading, below are links to all the resources and data I accessed for this post.
RESOURCES
Maps/Info about MCAS Miramar routes: https://laartcc.org/airport/view/KNKX
Maps/Info about the SOCAL Range Complex and W-291: https: https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/socal.htm
Maps/Info about military range complexes: https://www.globalsecurity.org/jhtml/jframe.html#https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/images/pacflt-training.gif|||
“Southern California Range Complex Coastal Consistency Determination” Paper; Department of the Navy: https://documents.coastal.ca.gov/reports/2008/10/W8b-10-2008-a3.pdf
“Southern California Range Complex: Environmental Impact Statement/Overseas Environmental Impact Statement” Report; United States Navy Pacific Fleet
Maps/Info about flight tracking and aircraft locations and details; ADS-B Exchange: https://globe.adsbexchange.com/
Info about AIM-120 AMRAAM: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AIM-120_AMRAAM
Info about AIM-9 Sidewinder: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AIM-9_Sidewinder
Info about AIM-7 Sparrow: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AIM-7_Sparrow
