Many at F-35 forum ask to judge noise with flyby
Carol Ann Alaimo Arizona Daily Star | , March 2, 2010
Nearly 170 people turned out Monday night for a public meeting on an Air Force proposal to locate a noisy new fighter jet in Tucson – but the question most on their minds couldn’t be answered by military personnel on hand to address their concerns.
Again and again, citizens asked if the service was willing to test-fly the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter over the city to see what it sounds like before a final basing decision is made.
“Everyone has asked that, and the answer is I don’t know,” said Lt. Col. Mike Farrell, who was dispatched from Eglin Air Force Base in Florida to speak with local residents at the meeting.
Earlier Monday, though, a Pentagon official said in an e-mail to the Arizona Daily Star that no such testing would take place. The military has only a few of the new jets and can’t spare them for such a test, said Gary Strasburg, an Air Force spokesman at the Pentagon.
“The Air Force will not use the F-35 to conduct live flight measurement over Tucson because the few F-35s that exist have limited flying hours available and are engaged in critical development, testing and evaluation activities,” he said.
Instead, he said, the service will rely on a computer program to analyze the jet’s noise impact as part of its environmental-assessment process.
That wasn’t good news to people such as Ann Becker, 57, who attended Monday’s meeting. Her Gates Pass neighborhood sees heavy air traffic from Air National Guard F-16 jets, which would be replaced by the F-35 if the new jet is approved to come to Tucson.
“From everything we’re hearing, the noise level will be significantly higher,” Becker said. “It will be difficult for people to deal with that.”
The Guard’s 162nd Fighter Wing, based at Tucson International Airport, is one of five training sites being considered for new aircraft. A draft environmental study is due to be released in the fall, and a final decision is expected next year.
Some at Monday’s meeting said the F-35 would be a financial boon to the city, protecting the 1,000-plus jobs and $280 million a year the Guard unit brings into Tucson.
Josh Drezek, 33, owner of a sign firm called J&J Signs and Design, handed out free bumper stickers at Monday’s meeting bearing a likeness of the new jet and the slogan “Bring Them to Tucson.”
“To me this is about economic impact,” said Drezek, who lives under a military air-traffic route at South Tucson Boulevard and East Drexel Road.
“To lose 1,000 jobs in this horrid economy, there’s no intelligence to that.”
Air Force studies in other cities suggest the new jet will be notably louder – assessments range from two times to up to four times as loud as the F-16s now flown out of the airport, depending on distance and other variables. The service has not released data specific to Tucson.
U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who supports bringing the F-35 to Tucson but had asked the Air Force to release local noise data in advance of this week’s public meetings, called it “unacceptable” that the service had not done so, said her spokesman, C.J. Karamargin.
Giffords, a Democrat, also questions the service’s decision to not conduct flyover tests in Tucson and plans to contact the Air Force about it, Karamargin said.IF YOU GO
The Air Force will hold four more F-35 meetings in Southern Arizona this week. All are from 6 to 9 p.m.
• Today – San Carlos: San Carlos High School, Milepost 270, Highway 70, east of Globe.
• Wednesday – Thatcher: Eastern Arizona College activities center, Gila Galiuro Room, 1014 N. College Ave.
• Thursday – Bisbee: Bisbee High School, 475 School Terrace Road.
• Friday – Tucson: Roskruge Elementary School, 501 E. Sixth St.
Contact reporter Carol Ann Alaimo at 573-4138 or calaimo@azstarnet.com
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