Gov. David Ige’s proclamation requiring all residents and visitors traveling interisland to quarantine for 14 days due to COVID-19 is having unintended consequences for Army helicopter training.

As a result of the order, the Army’s 25th Combat Aviation Brigade is concentrating more on Oahu because it suspended flights to neighbor islands and ranges such as Pohakuloa Training Area on Hawaii island in response to Ige’s proclamation, officials said.

“We’re doing our very best to support the state (requirements) during this time,” said Lt. Col. Adam Hallmark, a spokesman for the 25th Infantry Division.

That’s meant a lot of flying and some increased noise around Schofield Barracks’ East Range between Mililani Mauka and Wahiawa. Normal flight hours out of Wheeler Army Airfield are between 6 a.m. and 11 p.m. That window was expanded to 4 a.m. to midnight.

“This allows aircrews to practice social distancing by minimizing the number of personnel at work at any given time while maintaining flight requirements,” Hallmark said.

He added there has been “a slight uptick of aviation noise complaints.” The Army flies big CH-47 Chinooks, UH-60 Black Hawks and AH-64 Apache gunship helicopters.

The flight training reconfiguration is part of the ongoing balancing act the U.S. military faces in maintaining combat readiness while still largely utilizing only mission-essential personnel and following social-distancing efforts to combat COVID-19.

But that, too, is beginning to change in Hawaii and elsewhere where coronavirus cases are low.

Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy said Thursday the service has proposed a “risk mitigation framework” to “safely return to training operations and begin our summer move cycles.”

The virus did not impact the country uniformly, and the Army needs to tailor its approach in the return of regular functions, he said.

Maj. Gen. Jamie Jarrard, commander of the 25th Infantry Division, noted during a COVID-19 video update that the state continues to see relatively low case numbers throughout the islands. “We see very small numbers within the U.S. Army Hawaii community,” he said

The 25th Division had no infantry units of any size in the field on exercises or at firing ranges since minimum mission essential manning began March 25.

But on Wednesday the Army began small-scale training with about 10 or fewer soldiers shooting on the ranges, conducting driver training and performing maintenance on equipment.

Schofield said in a release that staff has “continued to conduct aviation training during the ongoing COVID-19 crisis in order to remain mission ready and to maintain the proficiency of its aircrews.”

“Because of COVID-19 our ability to conduct training flights to neighboring islands as we normally would has been impacted,” Col. R.J. Garcia, the aviation brigade commander, said in a release. “As such, it’s required us to conduct such training solely over and around Oahu.”

Overall flying hours by the aviation brigade have actually been less than usual, Hallmark noted.

While Marine Corps MV-22 tilt-rotor Ospreys also regularly pass through East Range, spokesman Capt. Eric Abrams said “there has not been an increase in MV-22 Osprey activity” near the range.

“U.S. Marine Corps training during the COVID-19 pandemic, to include flight operations, has been scaled back to include only mission-essential activities. We are balancing our priorities of protecting our people while maintaining readiness,” he said.

Abrams said Hawaii- based Ospreys “are continuing to conduct long-distance training missions. While they are not currently permitted to land at (Pohakuloa) due to COVID-19 restrictions, that has not inhibited their ability to train across the entire Hawaiian island chain given the extensive range of the aircraft.”

On April 23, Hawaii Marines with Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 268 conducted a GAU-17 minigun weapons test from an MV-22B Osprey at sea off Oahu. The GAU-17 Gatling gun retracts into the belly of the aircraft and is a remotely operated defensive weapon system.

Abrams said the primary reason Ospreys land at Pohakuloa is for troop transport.

“We are balancing our priorities of protecting our people while maintaining readiness,” he said. He added there “has been no increase of noise complaints due to Marine Corps flight operations reported as of yet.”