NORFOLK — Fighter jets would not fly over populated areas of Moyock on their way to Camden County if the U.S. Navy selects the Hales Lake site for its practice landing field, Rear Adm. David Anderson said Thursday.

Anderson, the vice commander of U.S. Fleet Forces, met with reporters in Norfolk Thursday to discuss the Navy's proposal for an outlying landing field in northeastern North Carolina. Camden and Gates counties, as well as three sites in Virginia, have made the Navy's final list of sites it is studying for the OLF. And Anderson is overseeing the Navy's search for a new OLF, which would be used by Navy fighter pilots to practice carrier landings.

Moyock residents have reasoned that the straightest shot for the jets flying out of south out of Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia Beach to the Hales Lake site would be over their neighborhoods. But that's not so, said Anderson.

Instead, the jets' designated air space would take them south out of Oceana following a beach corridor and not over Moyock, he said.

"I still got to go south to go west," he said. "It's just air space structure."

Anderson also said the Navy would do everything in its power to take a flight path to the OLF site that avoided populated areas. He said the issue of flight paths was one of many misconceptions floating around about the OLF that he would like cleared up, if he could only sit down and speak with residents and community leaders. He hopes to soon do that.

"What I'm asking for is to sit down and have a dialogue, that's all I'm asking, even with elected officials," he said.

The Navy has kicked off a two-year environmental study of five sites for their suitability for an OLF. Two sites in North Carolina – one in Camden and one in Gates County – as well as three in Virginia are being evaluated.

Anderson started out Thursday's interview by emphasizing the need for an OLF to maintain the nation's security, and said he was confident that one of the five sites will end up being chosen.

However, he also noted that there always was the slight chance that another site could be brought forth during the upcoming environmental impact study over the next couple of years that would be more suitable.

All of the five currently selected sites would be suitable for an OLF, he said.

"I am convinced we have no environmental issues (at the five sites)," Anderson said.

Speaking to reporters at Norfolk Naval Station, Anderson said he hopes that residents and officials who live near the sites will have an open mind about the project. He said there are many possibilities for it benefiting communities.

For instance, he said if the community desired it, an OLF could be a magnet for other companies that could bring in jobs and revenue.

He said the state and Navy officials could bring companies to the table to talk about economic development proposals surrounding the OLF site.

"We're trying to get those private businesses, those types of enterprises to the table now and make it part and parcel of our proposal to the community," he said. "Whatever it does, it would be compatible with an OLF. It may use part of the OLF. It may use part of the fire and crash and rescue."

Navy spokesman Ted Brown, who also was in attendance at the meeting, noted that the OLF itself could have a positive economic impact, offering

62 civilian jobs with an annual payroll $4.2 million.

Anderson said not everybody sees negatives in an OLF.

"We have had business proposals brought forward," Anderson said. "One was brought forward by an environmental group in North Carolina."

He said that group wants to reintroduce the long-leaf pine near the Sandbanks site in Gates County that the Navy is evaluating.

"They could reintroduce some types of lumber that has not basically been able to be reproduced," said Anderson, adding that an OLF would also help preserve land along the Chowan River.

"It's on the flood plane of Chowan River, so the state owns the flood plane," he said. "They don't want it developed. That works for us."

He said the group's proposal is making the Gates County site more appealing.

"It is really shaping up to be one of our strong sites," he said.