A Wake Up Call From Luke’s Jets
Something to consider when military jet noise bothers you. I’ve come to know it affectionately as “The Sound of Freedom,” but, sometimes, it’s “The Sound of the Price of Freedom.” The link takes you to the complaint filed.
(Luke is Luke Air Force Base in Arizona)
Here is the response.
Added July 13: The original complainant did write a letter of apology. This link (from an Urband legends web site) also contains more details about the incident as well as another letter of explanation from the Wing commander.
My parents used to live near an air force base – and were often to be found glued to thier window watching practise formations – and they especially loved watching the bombers practise low formations “bombing” a local beach!
But not everyone appreciates the noise, because lets be honest that formation at that height will wake you up – it isn’t something a person who isn’t deaf can sleep through.
I do think Lt. Col. Scott Pleus was a little harsh – I’m sure Tom MacRae, is now feeling very guilty. But at the time he didn’t know what was happening, only that his lie in was shattered. whilst I would agree that if jet noise is a big problem for you then you should move away from the area, I do think that the last paragraph was just cruel and unnecesary to someone who didn’t know of the significance of the event.
Hey, Nico! Good to see you. Excellent comment. Thanks for posting.
Good answer!! I hardly hear jet noise anymore, in spite of living within ten miles of an Air Force base and a small airport. My home is in the flightpaths, I know they fly over us, but it’s white noise to me. When I do hear fighters I run outside to see what kind!
It’s not just the years I worked on the flightlines. It’s not just that I’ve spent my entire adult life having my windows rattled. It’s not just that my son is aspiring to be an Air Force pilot.
I have known pilots. I haven’t liked all of them, but they have names and faces and families. I’ve been to their air shows (planned and unplanned), retirements, and one funeral (the pilot was my son’s Sunday School teacher). Civilians don’t make the connection that the men and women who momentarily disrupted your peace and quiet put their lives on the line every single time they step onto the tarmac. Instead of cursing the noise, try blessing the flyer.
My husband spent some time at Luke when he was in the Air Force. He liked it much better there than Chanute, Illinois in the winter. 🙂
I just wonder what he was thinking when he bought/rented his house. Did he really think the Air Force would pack up and leave so that he could sleep in?
Maybe he should have gone to bed earlier.
Hi, Heather. I’m not sure about Luke’s situation, but sometimes runways are added or take-off/landing patterns are changed after housing is built. Luke’s been there a long time, though, so perhaps it was the unusual nature of this fly-by that rattled him. I know there are many, many protests in Virginia about a Naval Air Station there, and it’s been there a long time–maybe they got a different type of aircraft that caused things to be noisier than before.
I don’t have a lot of sympathy for people who buy houses near airports of any kind then complain about jet noise. Yes, it is loud. But unless the airport moved in after you did, you goofed for not doing your homework before buying; don’t transfer your frustration to someone else. Accept responsibility for your choice.
When I was stationed in Iceland in 1987-88, just before the Cold War ended, my dorm room was on the third and top floor of the dormitory. F-15 aircraft routinely took off at 2am. perpendicular to where I was sleeping. Whether that was for training flights or in response to an airspace invasion by the Soviets (this cat and mouse game went on all the time during the Cold War), I didn’t really worry. For me, as EJ has indicated, it became a comforting sound. In a post-911 world, it’s even more comforting to me.