Reply #59: I am a big believer that the areas surrounding airfields [View All]

[bdab1973]

should be commercial use or open land. Not just military airfields, but all airports. And not necessarily for safety reasons either, but mostly for noise.

Working in the aviation industry for going on two decades now, I've seen more trouble with surrounding cities over noise than safety issues. It boggles my mind how people can shop for a house, a process that takes days, and NOT notice the jet noise overhead...and then a while later complain and sign petitions to close the airport, as though the airport intruded on THEM.

The base I attended pilot training at, Laughlin AFB, is about 10-15 miles east of Del Rio, TX. Back when I went to training there, it was desert scrub around the base. A good friend of mine just got an assignment there to instruct, and he was telling me how the base is trying very hard to fight developers who want to build subdivisions under the approach and departure path of the three runways. The base has won so far...but it's only a matter of time before they lose. And once they lose that battle, it will set the precedent and people will flood into that area, and noise complaints will likely skyrocket.

They fly T-1, T-38 and T-6 aircraft out of Laughlin, and the T-38s have afterburners. The T-1s aren't real loud, but they've got a very distinctive whine to them and I could easily hear it while inside (I lived on base back then). The T-6s weren't there when I was going through training...we had the T-37s, which have since been retired...thank God the T-37s are gone because they are loud, high pitched and annoying...it took months for me to get used to the sound of them flying overhead.

We had jokes about the T-37..."7,000 lb dog whistle"...."7,000 lb device for converting fuel into noise"...etc. It's nickname was the Tweet...not necessarily because it looked like Tweety bird, but because of the high pitch engine noise. The T-6s are single-engine turboprops...I've seen them flying around and they don't seem to be that noisy, but I haven't ever lived under them.