Not all F-16s are equipped with transponder interrogators (although I
think most a Luke are). F-16 radars can detect gliders at useful
ranges - I've seen HUD tapes showing a lock-on to a G-102 that was not
seen by the pilot.

The problem is that if civilian traffic is detected in a MOA, the
fighters have to stop their training and either move to a clear part of
the MOA, or knock it off and wait for the civilian traffic to leave the
MOA. If the traffic it at low altitude, they may be able to change to
a backup plan (level intercepts in the high MOA, for example), but if
the training schedule calls for full-up air combat maneuvering, they
have to have sterile airspace (to their knowledge).

I've been there, on both sides, and remember how frustrating it was to
have to knock off an engagement when someone spotted a lightplane - but
it is just too dangerous to continue.

From the AF's perspective, gliders pose a particularly difficult
problem - we are relatively slow and may not be travelling in a
straight line across the MOA, so holding until the glider(s) leaves
becomes problematical. So concern on their side is justified.

However, in the Region 9 situation at Turf, the times and parts of the
MOAs that could be affected were coordinated between ASA and the Air
Force weeks ago. The same was done for the 2002 Region 9 contest using
the same MOAs and we didn't have any problems - some F-16s even checked
in on 123.3 as they were transiting to the MOAs to see if gliders were
present.

Finally, in all probability, only 3 days would probably be affected,
since Monday is a holiday, and typically Luke doesn't fly on Friday
afternoons. So this whole thing is more politics than airspace - Luke
is trying to build their case for more special use airspace west of
Phoenix, so couldn't let a contest happen (especially with Air Force
Academy participation!) unchallenged, regardless of the actual safety
issues.

Kirk
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