BURLINGTON — Four F-35s made an unexpected stop at the Burlington International Airport Wednesday morning to re-fuel, landing around 7:45 a.m.
The planes were planning to fly overseas from Hill Air Force Base in Utah, but were diverted due to “weather and refueling schedules,” according to a press release from the Vermont National Guard.
The landing marked the first-ever F-35s landing in the state of Vermont, said Gene Richards, the director of aviation. The jets will be permanently based in Burlington in a few months.
The pending arrival of the F-35s has been controversial, with support from local politicians and business leaders countered by opposition from local residents concerned about the noise and mission of the jets.
The diversion of the F-35s did not affect the airport’s normal operations, Richards said. The airport takes three or four total flight diversions a month, he said.
“We have to be ready all the time for any diversions that come to the airport,” he said.
It’s unclear when the jets will leave Vermont. Richards said he hadn’t been told how long they would be at the airport. The Guard’s release stated their departure was “being coordinated for a later time.”
The surprise landing came the same day as Burlington airport officials release a noise map, showing how the airport’s noise will change by 2023, including the shift from the old fleet of F-16 jets to the new F-35s will expand noise disturbance in surrounding communities.
Richards said he was “pleasantly surprised” by the noise levels, adding that he was on the phone with deputy director Nic Longo when the jets flew over Longo’s Colchester home, and the noise of the planes did not interrupt their conversation.
“I’m with what I did hear, and I was pleasantly surprised by reports from my team here at the airport on the sounds they made,” he said.
The cloud cover Wednesday morning could have made the noise louder than usual, he added.
Richards said the landing was unrelated to the release of the noise map. A public meeting about the noise map will be held tonight at 5 p.m. at the airport.
