Today we look back on a day defined by horror on which three nursing professors were murdered at the UA. But this event, though tragic, was not the first time an incident has spawned campus wide terror.

Every student, faculty and staff member on campus is affected by the Davis-Monthan air traffic, which many times throughout the day makes the UA feels like a war zone. Nearly every day in between classes, students have the opportunity to gawk at the jets that lurk over campus.

Not only do the war machines dominate the air over our little intellectually founded city, but the sound of combat seeps down into our classrooms, Mall discussions and, for those in the residence halls, into our living spaces.

It has been 25 years since an A-7D Corsair II crashed onto North Highland Avenue near the intersection of East Sixth Street and killed two sisters who were students at the UA - a terrifying real-life example of how it is impossible to reduce the probability of risk to zero.

There are fewer planes flying overhead than before the disaster. But reducing the number of aircraft is not good enough. It is time, once and for all, for Davis-Monthan Air Force Base to completely reroute its flight patterns away from campus.

Each weekday, there are tens of thousands of people within the small block of land we call campus. Reports from individuals on campus at the time of the crash noted that the plane barely cleared the old student union, flew level to the Science Library (the Henry Koffler building was not there at the time) and brushed against the palm trees on North Highland Avenue before it actually hit ground next to Mansfeld Middle School.

In the end, the pilot heroically crashed the plane away from populated areas, but it could have been much, much worse.

It is ludicrous that dozens of military planes fly over campus en route to land at the base. We at the university and residents in the surrounding community should not tolerate the U.S. Department of Defense subjecting us to the disruption and risk associated with planes cruising over the UA.

Jessica Lee Associate Editor

In a Jan. 31, 1979, Wildcat article, it was reported that D-M had been rated as one of the worst bases in the country for air traffic control because of its proximity to mountains and the Tucson International Airport. In 25 years, neither the mountains nor the airport have moved, nor has the city gotten any smaller. The fact is that D-M escaped responsibility for rerouting 100 percent of its flights because the crash remarkably only killed two students.

It is up to us to remind military officials that the campus has not forgotten what happened at 12:16 p.m., Oct. 26, 1978. And we have the right to be concerned that it can happen again. It only takes one plane and a single mechanical error.

According to Master Sergeant Daniel Carpenter, the spokesperson for Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, there have been no changes to the flight patterns over the campus since the crash. Twenty-five years is more than adequate time to change the location of the runway. With current U.S. military spending, money can't be an issue. Rather, it is a lack of concern for the UA community that lives with the daily interruptions and fears.

Putting safety issues aside, the presence of military aircraft blankets the campus with the aura of war and violence. The first few times students witness a plane fly exceptionally low (close enough to read the words on the bottom), they are immediately alarmed and, for an instant, scared.

Over time, students become desensitized to the nerve-racking roar of planes seeming like they may suddenly land nearby. They accept the fact that the U.S. military is a daily part of our academic lives.

Every student who was here for Sept. 11, 2001, recalls that the number of planes increased dramatically. I remember shortly after the terrorist attacks, an open mic event was held on the steps of the Administration building as a forum for expression over the disaster. Speakers could barely get their words out without a plane interrupting - no, overbearing - them.

Until the base ends over-campus flights, military aircraft flying over campus should be taken as a daily reminder that the United States is currently involved in military action all over the world from Afghanistan, Iraq and South Korea to Columbia. As taxpaying citizens and moral beings, it is our responsibility to not let D-M air traffic become just another thunderous episode.

The scream of the engines should fuel discussion on the presence of American forces across the globe. Two UA women lost their lives to this perpetual machine of war.

It is time the U.S. Air Force put up a fraction of money to erect a memorial to the students. D-M cannot sweep this tragedy under the rug.

Current and future UA-affiliated individuals should not have to worry about the possibility of another plane crashing on campus. And as agents striving to obtain higher intellectual ground, we cannot accept the casual classroom disruption of the U.S. military.

Jessica Lee is an environmental science senior. She can be reached at letters@wildcat.arizona.edu