Boise Airport does not have an official noise reduction plan. They just turn everyone south or straight up the freeway out of city limits. There’s no such thing as a reduced power takeoff at Boise in the summer. It’s too hot and too high. I’ve alway thought that Ada county should be charging Boise Airport a noise impact fee since Ada absorbs all the noise and Boise gets all the fees. Give me $100 every time you fly an F-35 within a half mile of my house and I’ll be all for it, otherwise just keep this little gem in Mt. Home.

As an aside, some in the know, including the Rand Corp., and The Center for Defense Information say that the F35 is a performance dog.

They also accurately predicted tremendous cost overruns. As of now per unit cost is estimated at $115 Million and projected project costs at near $300 Billion and rising.

These performance and cost problems led Defense Secretary Gates to fire the Military project leader earlier this month.

But pork is pork, so pass the platter.

The comment from “Return of the Commie Fighters” is typical of the liberal mindset – clueless !!

For your information, air superiority is still a vital component of any armed conflict and it will stay that way for many years to come. People who actually understand military tactics recognize this and see the need to keep American fighters and fighter pilots on the cutting edge of technology and skill.

Also, just so you understand, the point of having an F-35 squadron in Boise isn’t to “protect” Boise from anything. The point is that Boise is close to both MHAFB and fighter training ranges that not many other areas have access to. That makes Boise (and Mountain Home) the perfect place to house and train F-35 pilots and crew.

Further, it’s pretty obvious that the economy in the Treasure Valley would greatly benefit from having such an increase in the labor force right in our back yard. Believe it or not, we all benefit from that fact.

Next time, before you spout your liberal drivel, try to be informed about the topic you are speaking of.

Fom Wikipedia:

The JSF program was designed to replace the U.S. military’s F-16, A-10, F/A-18 (excluding newer E/F “Super Hornet” variants) and AV-8B tactical fighter aircraft. To keep development, production, and operating costs down, a common design was planned in three variants that share 80% of their parts:

F-35A, conventional take off and landing (CTOL) variant.
F-35B, short-take off and vertical-landing (STOVL) variant.
F-35C, carrier-based CATOBAR (CV) variant.

The F-35 is intended to be the world’s premier strike aircraft through 2040, with close- and long-range air-to-air capability second only to that of the F-22 Raptor. The F-35 is required to be four times more effective than existing fighters in air-to-air combat, eight times more effective in air-to-ground combat, and three times more effective in reconnaissance and suppression of air defenses – all while having better range and requiring less logistics support.

With takeoff weights up to 60,000 lb (27,000 kg), the F-35 is considerably heavier than the lightweight fighters it replaces. In empty and maximum gross weights, it more closely resembles the single-seat, single-engine F-105 Thunderchief which was the largest single-engine fighter of the Vietnam era.

Now, some opinion: Concerns expressed here about noise are overblown. All military aircraft have cost overruns.

So, it is not just a “fighter”, but is multi-purpose and the F-22 has already been cancelled. We probably need such an aircraft in our inventory, particularly if we decide to make the rest of the world a no-fly, no boat, no train, no bridge, and no electric power plant zone.

Whether some of them are based here in Boise makes no difference to me. We need to get back to talking about bringing the BPD under civilian control and de-clawing them.

BG ought to check into the status of a joint study between Elmore & Ada Counties (perhaps with Boise City) and the Guard at Gowen and MHAFB. The study’s purpose was to establish an Army Compatible Use Buffer (ACUB).

Part of the funding was coming from the federal ACUB allotment, and some directly from the DoD’s funding for the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) legislation.

I was involved in meetings with both Gowen Field officers, DoD agents, and airport officials in 2007/8 to discuss how to best coordinate the study — and how to best issue the Request for Proposals from interested consultants.

The RFP was issued, and I believe a consultant was selected — but I don’t know if the study has been completed.

One of the focuses of the study was to look into ways the activities at Gowen Field and MHAFB might be better integrated — and how these potential activities might effect the civilian population.

It would seem that the introduction of a new fighter wing operation would have to have been addressed in the study, since it would in all likelihood increase off-base impacts that would have to be mitigated. Such mitigation efforts would have to be approved by both the DoD (Air Force) and all land use control agencies (the counties and effected cities) — before the DoD could positively recommend to Congress that flight operations could be expanded.

Read this weeks copy of TIME Magazine with Robert Gates on the cover and the cover story. He is calling BS on junk that does not protect the grunts on the ground. He has fined Lockheed-Martin over $600MM for cost over-runs on the project and fired the military brass in charge of the program. I am sure we will have the plane but he has put more emphasis on RAPTORS and PREDATORS the need for manned aircraft may have seen its day as a combat tool.

The flyboys at the Air Force know their collective days are numbered and Mr. Gates is putting the resources out there for the guys on the ground.

F-35 may be a very small contingent of planes when all is said and done.

Good. Might slow growth.

Whether or not this platform is needed is a subject open to debate. However, most of you are missing the point. If you have a training area(which we do), the “opposition” aircraft are not based at the same facility as the trainees. If implemented, which is doubtful at this time, we would rarely see, or hear F35’s here at Gowen. The “opposition” would be based here. By the way Return, you should try to make the sarcasm a “titch” more evident. Some here may actually think you are that crazy to make such statements!

The US Military is something Idaho and Idahoans alike should be proud to support. I grew up around bases my whole life (outside of Idaho) and within a mile of the Blue Angels–they practiced regularly above our home and my schools. It was neither intrusive nor some horrible noise going on all day, every day. I find lawn mowers and those gas-powered scooters kids ride louder in a quiet neighborhood than jets.
The F-35 will not only bring military, it will bring civilian jobs as well. All of those people will buy our products, buy homes and contribute to the tax base.
Sometimes we must look beyond our own ears to see the benefit to our economy, employment, military and Idaho.

Return has a point. For all the armament we threw at the Iraqis, the single most effective thing we did was the Surge. Not the surge in manpower, but rather the surge in dollar bills we paid the insurgents to quit shooting at us.

Instead of dropping a $150 Million a pop for the f35, we could take the amount of money that about three or four of the plane’s cost and more effectively buy about 3 years of peace in Afghanistan. That would also avoid all the dead innocent civilians that motivate ever more al Quaeda.

I just heard about the F-35’s on Fox12. I am still in a sigh of relief that the F-15’s are gone. I work from home and spend a majority of my day on work phone calls. The normal hum and drum of the airport is not a hindrance, but this last summer when the F-15’s were in town was difficult for me. Due to the noise I would have to explain to clients that the Oregon Air Force was in town for the summer and try to avoid taking any phone calls during many loud periods of the day. The F15’s were so loud that many times I would have to end calls and call clients back after the noise had subdued.

Now, Fox12 reports that the F-35’s are twice as loud!!! According to AirForceTimes.com ( http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2008/10/airforce_f35_basing_102608/ ), the F-35 is even louder coming in for a landing, and is Four times as loud as the F15C when it lands!!! I did not voice my concerns before, because I thought the F-15’s and noise would leave in the fall and not return. Myself, and others who telecommute or run businesses from home or commercial zoned areas in South Boise will be impacted by the noise produced by these aircraft. I am afraid that I will have to move if the F-35’s come to Boise. I hope the F-35’s don’t force me and others to resort to moving and take monetary losses in this bad housing market.

The Boise Airport has a handout that shows a “footprint” that includes the airport as well as the surrounding area that is designated as “not suitable for residential use”. However, it only shows the perpendicular roads such as Cole Road and Broadway. No cross streets are shown and according to Matt Petaja,Deputy Director of the airport, there is no map to show which streets these are and how far out the lines go. The public has the right to see if their homes fall within the “not suitable for residential use”. Why hasn’t the Air Force developed a map? What are they trying to hide? How can an educated decision be made with no idea how much of the population will be affected. Why won’t the air force agree to bring a F35 to Boise and fly it for a week? Let them prove the F35 won’t have an extremely negative affect on thousands of citizens, schools, sports,entertainment etc.

Be aware that when the “Avigation” Easements are passed out, there will be pitiful and puny offers for your easements. The easements give the Government your property rights. The value of your properties will plummet due to the noise factors and tree removal for your “Safety”. When the trees are removed, the noise worsens and the possibility of crashes into homes seems to increase instead. The easements allow the Military to fly whatever type of aircraft they want to, whenever they want to and however they want to. I can personally attest to rude awakenings in the middle of the night, aircraft landing gear over my roof and friends throwing themselves down in my yard screaming because they thought the plane was crashing and they were going to die. Oh yes, I forgot to mention hearing loss as well as other diseases and illnesses that are more prevalent and appear to be worsened by the NOISE. Make sure you go to the Public Meetings to fight the incompatible noise. We never had any meetings – the government just stomped all over us AND the Fair Oaks Elementary School which houses alot of minority children which is blantant discrimination.