BURLINGTON — The complaints of Burlington area residents have been heard, even over the sound of the Vermont National Guard’s F-35 fighter jets.
Burlington International Airport has installed a sound monitoring system that tracks aircraft noise in the hopes of addressing the series of complaints about noise levels and concerns over hearing damage that followed the 2019 arrival of the National Guard’s F-35 jets. However, it’s unlikely the monitoring system will result in any significant changes in airport or National Guard operations, representatives from both institutions said.
The noise monitoring system uses large microphones installed at strategic places to measure decibel levels.
Two have already been installed — one at Winooski City Hall and the other at Chamberlin School in South Burlington. A third microphone is scheduled to be installed in Williston next month.
Once noise measurements are taken, a computer overlays the measurements on a map that tracks flight operations at the airport, correlating sounds with flights.
Residents can view the system online and submit comments through an online portal, providing information that could be used to figure out which flights seem to be the most disruptive and adjust routes to alleviate the noise where possible, according to Nic Longo, acting director of aviation for the Burlington airport.
Longo made it clear that the airport could at most make small tweaks in its current operations, but having more sound data wouldn’t hurt.
“I can’t do anything if I don’t at least have data,” Longo said. “I can’t do anything if I don’t have flight information that shows what flights we’re getting lots of noise complaints about and defines the paths we could alter.”
F-35 noise can reach up to 115 decibels, an amount of noise comparable to emergency vehicle sirens or shouting directly into the ear. This level of sound has the potential to cause hearing loss if experienced for more than two minutes, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The Lockheed Martin-manufactured F-35s are louder than both commercial airliners and the F-16 fighter jets previously flown by the Guard, and complaints have focused largely on how the increased noise could be affecting children’s hearing, mental health and classroom learning. But the noise disrupts everything from sidewalk conversations to movie night, residents said.
“If I’m on the phone or on a Zoom meeting or if I’m watching a movie with my kids, that all has to pause, all has to stop, when the planes go over,” said Stephanie Rose, a four-year resident of Williston.
“I don’t care about how many decibels it is,” she said when asked if she plans to use the new noise tracking website. “It’s my experience that matters.”
Despite consistent community concerns, the Vermont National Guard does not plan to alter its flight operations, and data from the Burlington area monitoring system, no matter what it says, likely won’t change that, said Maj. Meghan Smith, a public affairs officer for the Vermont Guard.
“Our flight operations are not dictated at the local level, so while we follow the arrival and departure procedures at the airport, how often we train will still only be decided at the federal level,” Smith told VTDigger.
Rose expected that response from the Guard. “This whole situation makes me feel so helpless,” she said. “I feel like there is nothing I can do because it doesn’t matter how much it bothers people or what we hear, this is just going to happen.”