Field Noise Podcast: Here Come the Loud Jets

Field Noise Transmissions podcast  and article – Sept 16, 2019

For the last several months I’ve been working with documentary filmmaker Finn Ryan on an episode of the Field Noise podcast about the noise from F-16 fighter jets over our neighborhood and the public responses to that noise. But as we were gathering material for the story, the Air Force proposed replacing the F-16s with the newer, and much louder, F-35s. Subsequently, Finn and I have found ourselves attending meetings, talking to people and politicians, and, inevitably, taking a side. The clip above is Alder Syed Abbas speaking out against the F-35 at a public meeting on September 12, 2019. And the following newsletter is my attempt to clear up what I find to be some very frustrating sticking points in the public debate about just how loud these new jets will be. Even if you are nowhere near Madison, you might be interested in how the FAA and the Air Force measure jet noise—and what that means for people living around airports.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE with sound clip