Darwin, Hope this helps you understand.

This is about money into city coffers, just like the foothills build-out which got rubber-stamped last week. Our airport is horribly overbuilt and has crisis low passenger and freight counts. Weeds and gophers from lack of use are their biggest problems. They are in danger of losing the huge flow of federal money if they can’t show the money is well spent on an important busy airport.

The F-35 makes more noise than the F-4 series, and a lot more noise than the F-15 series. The people living in traditional air force towns where it is already based have sued the air force because it is substantially noisier.

All the NATO forces train mostly at night. So aircraft based at Boise will fly mostly at night. Missions will often be flown by visiting squadrons from all over the world who will be rotating through Boise because of the nearby training ranges. MHAFB is the northernmost element in a chain of bases which train over the Nevada deserts. This means non-stop usage unlike the weekend gentlemen’s squadron of old. So, those homes, schools, churches, businesses within 5 to 8 miles of the Boise airport will have 24/7 military jet noise which is louder than the RF-4C and F-4G of old. The noise will peak in the darkness.

Also, a very important factor is the air pollution which will be dumped into our local airshed. We obviously have an air quality problem already. Just one military fighter-type aircraft burns ~150-300 gallons of fuel from start up to the end of the takeoff run. There are no pollution scrubbers. The US military is the largest consumer of petroleum products on Earth. Strangely our mayor Bieter wants me to use an electric lawnmower because of our dangerous air quality problems, but he’s cool with the military burning 100,000 gallons a day at the airport.

Why they don’t like Mountain Home AFB any longer even though it’s less than 30 flight miles from Boise is, Mountain Home does not look as good on the travel brochure, and therefore is not helpful for pilot retention. At this time many of the officers and enlisted families live in Boise and commute to MHAFB daily.

I support a quiet aircraft based at Boise and or a much improved transit system to MHAFB in support of the families who live in the Boise metro area. The good news is the A-10 (which is quiet) is our most effective tallywacker killer. Once we are free from Obama it will probably be extended until the desert police actions are settled. It’s cheap and effective, unlike all the newer toys.

EDITOR NOTE–We still find it absurd that pilots will gladly lay their lives on the line, deploy to the mideast for months at a time, but don’t want to go to Mt. Home for training. Truth be told, a fighter jock would go ANYWHERE for the chance to pilot the gas guzzler supersonic jets. They don’t have as much love for a C-130, C-17, or supporting acts.

It amazes me, given all the hawkish, self-proclaimed patriots here, how many get upset when it comes to sharing some of the civilian burden of military preparedness.

Gowen’s National Guard mission is training. The occasional placement of MHAFB jets here have had a different mission, often preparing to deploy overseas, combat ready.

“No Jet Noise’s” post is riddled with misinformatin about Gowen’s mission and its impacts.

Of course, guys (and gals) in the air national guard, usually fully employed in other jobs, are not gonna want to drive to Mountain Home; and whole crews (not just pilots) are involved.

Since Sept 2, F-35s are operating at Hill AFB. In the middle of beautiful Ogden, UT.
Let’s see how the residents respond there after a few months of operations.

Better yet, NJN could go down there and sit at end of their run way and count sorties for a Wednesday- see if it’s really 24/7 jet noise including all hours of the night. Video evidence of course…

I am retired and pour my money into the local economy, but that is about to change. I am selling my home. This stupid, totally insane idea of flying the loudest jets on the planet out of a huge city at night makes me think people here have lost their collective minds. My new home will not be in Boise, and not be anywhere near an airport. Kiss my retirement $$ goodbye Boise. I hope folks wake up here eventually and go after the politicians who “welcome the jets” with pitchforks and torches.

The Boise Airport is asking the FAA to approve their mitigation plan for noise. That plan is as the editor describes. The Noise Study says 327 homes will be in the 65 decibel “incompatible” category if a squadron of F 35’s arrive and the mitigation in “LU-9” is to buy them. No cost estimates but 327 x $150-$200 thousand is around $55 million. Of course the homes need to be demolished or moved and pipes and sidewalks removed etc. I would think. Some question whether this figure of 327 is too low so there will be lawsuits. There is the third runway proposal which costs $60 million just for military use. BUT this idea is not even mentioned or analyzed. Would this work? I don’t know. If it won’t how does the economic devastation to the Bench compare to having the Air Guard train at an Air Force Base? I haven’t seen that analysis. So the Noise Study should seek FAA approval after a FULL and COMPLETE public involvement and plenty of discussion.

Addendum: Boise City has recently annexed land to the SW of the airport on the east side of south Cole rd. They are now holding meetings to plan the build out. Kind of stupid considering these homes will be directly under the departure path of aircraft heading to the training range.

EDITOR NOTE–And they will be close to the third runway if it is ever built!

Jet Noise… I worked F15s for awhile… never saw on take off at “reduced” power Put’em both to the wall and turn’n burn baby…

Jet noise is the sound of freedom… love it or leave… I guess people like you think those “low life GI’s at Mtn Home don’t deserve any quiet.. that’s all reserved for the chosen few…

How about you civilians make a little sacrifice for once and not depend on “those people” to do everything for you.

I live in Meridian near Cherry and Linder. Happen to be pretty much right under a regular approach for all kind of aircraft. The commercial bigs come in so low sometimes I think I recognize the pilot. Fighters ? yea, so low and slow they have to power up to make it to boise…. If they flew like that in enemy territory they would last about 3 seconds so tell me why they need to fly like that right over peoples homes… There is no reason for it at all. They should be coming in higher and dropping later. One brother at Gowen, another brother who is a fighter pilot and plenty of friends including some who carpool from meridian to MH… The sound of freedom ? not for everyone Richardhead. Many people suffer from maladies where even simple fireworks can cause trauma. Combat vets would prefer quiet as well. For many it’s the sound of hell. I’ve lived and worked hundreds of yards from a navy base more than once. If I wanted to live next to a navy base I would move next to a navy base. Instead I’m in Meridian which has gone to hell in the last 20 years so maybe it’s just me.

Not really my fight but traveling thru Boise on the Interstate this morning I couldn’t help but notice the miles of concrete walls on the North side of the Interstate and I think they are built for one reason–noise suppression for the houses nearby.
We lived many years next to a spot in the road where there was a one inch bump and countless times in the nite I was jolted wide awake when an empty truck hit the depression.
Sounds of freedom?–firecrackers, thunderclaps, screaming jet engines? It has nothing to do with it –It is respect for your neighbor and allowing him to enjoy a bit of peace and quiet.

Much of this discussion seems to confuse the Idaho ANG personnel & mission with those of the USAF.

The Idaho ANG have been flying military aircraft at Gowen since 1946—from WWII Mustangs & Sabre jets in the ’40s & ’50s to A-10s & C-130s today, none of them exactly quiet machines.

If we insist on trying to solve the world’s & our own problems with military might, I kinda like the idea of making it as convenient as possible for citizen soldiers to live normally among us & as comfortably as possible when they’re “off duty.” I’ll handle a little extra noise so they can be ready.

rabula, respect for your comment, however I think the ANG “mission” can/will change very quickly. You may recall just a short time ago our Mayor and Governor and full Congressional contingent were doing their best to bring a 72 aircraft F-35A training squadron to Boise. That would be 24/7 noise. It went to Luke AFB instead. Try try again they will!

john, totally get it man. Meridian is actually one of the best places to live, but under the ILS approach course is not their best real estate. FYI: All pilots need to practice instrument approaches in good weather. This means even fighter craft will sometimes fly the same approach to an airport as the airliners do. (You may recall an A-10 cratered near meridian 1/20/2002. The pilot was conducting such an approach to Boise airport.) Practice in good weather is needed for the times when the visibility is very low. The approach slope for these approaches is very gentle for safety reasons because a steep approach in low visibility is too difficult to judge and will often result in a crash. Also, these same approach corridors are used in good weather by ATC to avoid collisions.

john, Fighter aircraft have very noisy engines and terrible glide characteristics, so fighter aircraft conducting a gently sloping landing approach will be using a fair amount of power, thus generating a lot of noise. Alternatively, if you can watch when they make a close in tight visual landing approach, the angle is much steeper and they are much quieter than your correct observations near your house. Occasionally one can observe a high-speed penetration approach at Boise which is intended to avoid ground fire. The wingman remains in position aloft to gun any bad guys shooting at the first planes in.

rick, your instability is showing. The sound of freedom is the money leaving our bank accounts to pay for all these toys. I for one know they have many options aside from shaking the ground under my house at night. Our mayor and friends just don’t care.

My understanding of this whole deal is that Team Dave (not the editor) wants F35’s stationed at Gowen to train pilots. Is that correct?

If it is I am against it, not for the noise. I am against it simply for the reason that active duty individuals should not be trained by National Guard instructors. There is a vast difference in how the guard and the real military are setup and ran and I would be afraid that the pilots would be trained to guard standards which do not rise to the level of active duty.

As to the noise individuals who bought or built in the flight path of the airport have absolutely no reason to complain and should have no say in the decision. You bought there pull up your big people pants and make better decisions about where to live.

As to the citizen solider comment, every member of the military is a citizen. This special status that the weekend warriors seem to think they deserve is a slap in the face to individuals who live the military every day

flyhead…. it is obvious you have no military experience… When was the last time a nuke was used… guess we don’t need them… when was the last time a sub was used in a war… guess we don’t need them… when was the last time your car insurance was used… guess you don’t need it..
The AF tried what you are suggesting when they took the gun off of fighters… they found out real quick just how big a mistake that was…. thankfully some people can look at history and see the mistakes that were made and not repeat them…getting rid of fighters like you seem to be proposing would be a very very bad idea…