The Vermont Air National Guard will conduct three weeks of night flights involving the F-35 fighter jets, with landings scheduled for as late as 10 p.m., the guard announced Friday.
The first round will begin Tuesday, April 6, and run through Saturday, April 10. The next runs from April 13 to 16, and the third from April 20 to 22. Takeoffs are expected between 4 and 8 p.m.
This is the first round of night operations since December, when landings took place between 6 and 8 p.m.
“The 158th Fighter Wing must be prepared to execute our federal mission at night in any weather condition,” Lt. Col. Trevor Callens, director of operations for the 134th Fighter Squadron, said in the statement. “Night flying proficiency is a crucial component of our training, especially as we prepare for an out-of-state night exercise in July.”
Local residents have long expressed fear and frustration over the ear-ringing noise caused by the fighter jets, particularly people in the immediate flight path.
While the daytime operations are bad enough for some, the evening landings can be especially disruptive to households with small children.
Burlington resident Jen Lazer told VTDigger in 2019 that her infant daughter was struggling to get used to the roaring jets.
“She stares at the sky and shakes and cries and grabs me. She thrusts her head into my chest,” Lazer said at the time.
Fiona Griffin of Winooski told VTDigger in 2018 that the F-16 jets, the predecessors of the new fighter jets, were already loud enough to disrupt her young children. The F-35s are about four times as loud.
“Fighter jets have woken my babies while they slept, scared them while they played and brought them to tears on more than one occasion,” Griffin said at the time.
Winooski residents made their most recent public plea on Town Meeting Day, voting to urge Vermont to halt F-35 training flights over densely populated areas, including their city. More than 67% of voters supported the nonbinding ballot measure.
“We certainly respect their right to voice their experience in a number of different ways, whether that’s through voting at the Winooski town hall or through providing us direct feedback,” said Maj. Scott Detweiler, public affairs officer for the Vermont National Guard.
Detweiler said the guard records all calls made to its public affairs office, and the calls are shared weekly with wing leadership.
Questions about the noise produced by the jets were posed at an online town hall March 25, hosted by officials in the Vermont National Guard.
The National Guard Bureau has funded a new noise study to investigate the effects of the F-35s on residents in the Burlington area, Col. David Shevchik Jr., commander of the 158th Fighter Wing, said at the event.
Shevchick said he expects the study to be completed this fall or winter.
Maj. Gen. Gregory Knight, adjutant general of the Vermont National Guard, said the guard is in early talks with Vermont’s congressional delegation to secure funding for further noise mitigation efforts.
On Tuesday, VTDigger reported on an upcoming short film by local filmmakers that compiles anonymous voicemails from residents frustrated by the disruptions and potential health concerns posed by the noise of the fighter jets. Segments in the film’s trailer describe the sound of the F-35s as “horrifying,” affecting residents “deep in our hearts, in our viscera.”
F-35 pilots already take some steps to mitigate the noise. The jets have taken off using their extra-loud afterburners only once since they arrived at Burlington International Airport in late 2019, Detweiler said.
Instead, pilots angle the jets to get them out of densely populated airspace as quickly as possible without using the afterburners. In landing procedures, pilots use a “sweeping maneuver” to come down from high altitudes with the help of gravity.
“We do know there’s still an experience on the ground from the noise,” Detweiler said. “The pilots do everything that they can tactically to mitigate that experience or reduce that experience.”
