On Saturday, October 5, 2019 at 7:20:53 PM UTC-7, 5Z wrote:
What's the big deal? Every flight I make from my home airport at Inyokern (except a pattern tow :-) is in a MOA. There are no rules to keep me out, but I do need to be more aware for military traffic.
The proposed MOA is to enclose airspace that is already being used for military exercises. Looks like they just want to make it more obvious to VFR pilots and to protect IFR flights by providing an official tool for routing them around the airspace when it's active.
Read the AIM. This will not affect soaring in that area.

3-4-5 Military Operations Areas
a. MOAs consist of airspace of defined vertical and lateral limits established for the purpose of separating certain military training activities from IFR traffic. Whenever a MOA is being used, nonparticipating IFR traffic may be cleared through a MOA if IFR separation can be provided by ATC. Otherwise, ATC will reroute or restrict nonparticipating IFR traffic.
b. Examples of activities conducted in MOAs include, but are not limited to: air combat tactics, air intercepts, aerobatics, formation training, and low-altitude tactics. Military pilots flying in an active MOA are exempted from the provisions of 14 CFR Section 91.303(c) and (d) which prohibits aerobatic flight within Class D and Class E surface areas, and within Federal airways. Additionally, the Department of Defense has been issued an authorization to operate aircraft at indicated airspeeds in excess of 250 knots below 10,000 feet MSL within active MOAs.
c. Pilots operating under VFR should exercise extreme caution while flying within a MOA when military activity is being conducted. The activity status (active/inactive) of MOAs may change frequently. Therefore, pilots should contact any FSS within 100 miles of the area to obtain accurate real‐time information concerning the MOA hours of operation. Prior to entering an active MOA, pilots should contact the controlling agency for traffic advisories.
d. Permanent MOAs are charted on Sectional Aeronautical, VFR Terminal Area, and the appropriate En Route Low Altitude charts.

I'm with you - the military can operate almost anywhere at anytime, governed by the same airspace rules that we must follow. In Washington low altitude flights are made out of Whidbey Island to the Boardman Bombing Range, which takes them over the Cascade Mountains, down the Columbia River and up and over several ridges. High altitude flights descending to ground level are down out of McCord involving C-17s (with only a 3 man crew). And there IS NO MOA. I fly out of Ely during the summer with MOAs nearby - this summer I noticed one pair of fighters. What is more troubling is that these fighters were not using transponders or ADS-B; part of their training, I assume.

Tom