Noise is the issue at public meetings for F-35
By Joe Pangburn, Inside Tucson Business
Published on Friday, March 05, 2010
A community divided was on display at last week’s scoping meetings held as part of the Air Force’s preliminary planning for possibly locating an F-35 jet fighter training facility at the Air National Guard’s 162nd Fighter Wing at Tucson International Airport.
“One of the main questions I had was where they were getting the numbers from,” said Chet Gardiner, a Tucson resident and a sound recording engineer, referring to the $280 million in economic impact and the 1,000 jobs the training facility would bring to the region. “The Air Force economist couldn’t tell me. He couldn’t even estimate where they come up with that. How are we going to miss out on 1,000 jobs and $280 million? They’re throwing this number out there and it’s scaring people.”
Tim Amalong, president of the 162nd Fighter Wing Minuteman Committee, said he hears that question a lot.
“Everyone wants to know about this number,” Amalong said. “This number comes from a 2008 report done for the Arizona Department of Commerce on the economic impact the military has on the state of Arizona. In the report, it said the facility has a $280 million impact and employs 1,000 people. That number is actually low now, because since then, the 162nd has landed contracts bringing the Singapore Air Force and the Dutch Air Force back to Tucson to train them.”
According to Amalong, the biggest economic infusion would be in the nearly $150 million construction renovation the Air National Guard’s facilities to accommodate the F-35s from the smaller F-16s.
The Air Force is planning on phasing out the F-16 Fighting Falcon in 2025. The Air National Guard facility has about 70 of the aircraft.
The five scoping meetings last week — two in Tucson and one each in Bisbee, San Carlos and Thatcher — were intended to get information to and answer the questions of the residents. It seemed, however, the majority of the concerns were based in Tucson.
Amalong guessed there were around 200 people at the first meeting March 1 at Sunnyside High School. By comparison, there were less than a dozen who attended the meeting in San Carlos the next night.
Tucsonan Jamie Schremmer said she is worried about the increased noise levels the F-35 will generate.
“It will be deafening,” she said. “I’ve researched what different sound levels do to a person and if several of them flew too low over us it could kill us. That way they wouldn’t even have to have live ammo, they are working to use sound as a weapon.”
The increased noise of the F-35 over the F-16 is the main concern among those who are opposed to the training facility.
Gardiner said he recorded the audio — posted on www.tucsonforward.com — of jets landing, including the F-35, using music-recording software that graphically mapped out the levels of noise of an F-15, F-16 and F-35.
“These F-35s are a whole lot louder,” he said. “We’re already underwater on our mortgage, the F-35 will just kill any chance I have at selling it.”
Amalong said most of those complaining about the F-35 lived in mid-town Tucson near Davis-Monthan Air Force Base and not Tucson International Airport.
“DM might get 56 complaints on a specific day,” he said. “You may find one person made six or 10 of those complaint calls, but you have to log each one as a complaint.”
The Air Force will produce an environmental impact study this year for Tucson that will take into consideration the increased noise.
Amalong said the jets have the fuel capacity to fly for four hours but most training missions will run from 1½ to two hours meaning there will be less fuel needed for the mission and less power on takeoff.
“They are not going to need to conduct afterburner takeoffs, like the F-16 often does,” Amalong said. “There will be times for training purposes when they will need to do an afterburner takeoff, but it is not going to be often.”
He also said noise is not one of the main factors the Air Force considers when it makes this decision.
“There are a bunch of different factors,” he said. “What is good for us, is our proximity to the Barry M. Goldwater Range in southwestern Arizona. These are long-range jets and the range is so long they can run their missions well there.”
Another plus for Arizona, according to Amalong is that the desert climate causes less corrosion of parts so maintenance is less of an issue.
“This is the jet the military is moving toward,” he said. “It is not a question of if the F-16s are replaced, but when they are replaced.”
He also said the Air National Guard unit is not in direct competition with Luke Air Force west of Phoenix, which is also in contention as an F-35 training facility.
“They’re looked at differently,” Amalong said. “If we’re competing with anyone it would be the Air National Guard pilot training facility in Boise, Idaho.”
There were several requests as the meetings for the Air Force to fly an F-35 into Tucson but Amalong said that isn’t practical at this point because there are less than 10 complete F-35s and they’re in testing.
The Air Force says it plans to announce its preferred locations for the F-35 units late this spring and make a final decision early next year.
Biz Facts:
There are two leading organizations who have taken sides on locating F-35s at Tucson International Airport.
• Pro F-35:
www.tucsonf35.com
• Anti F-35:
www.Tucsonforward.com
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