Flight Operations Schedule at OLF Coupeville the Week of September 1-6, 2014r
NAVAL AIR STATION WHIDBEY ISLAND, Wash. –Field Carrier Landing Practice (FLCP) operations for aircraft stationed at NAS Whidbey Island are scheduled at the Outlying Field (OLF) in Coupeville, Wash., from September 2-4, 2014.
Tuesday, September 2, FCLP training at OLF Coupeville is scheduled in the late afternoon until early evening. On Wednesday and Thursday, September 3 and 4, FCLP training is scheduled to begin at OLF Coupeville in the late afternoon until early evening.
I believe that this will inhibit my healing from total knee replacement due to the traumatic stress and due to lack of sleep from the horrific noise and fear that the Growlers represent.
Just to clarify, the Navy should close NAS Whidbey Island, remove the EA-18G, and stop flying all together because your knee hurts?
There has never been, and never will be a call from COER to close NASWI. My knee is fine, thanks, but my hearing is about gone. Yes, the navy should remove the EA18G. As a hornet driver, do you get compensation for your hearing loss? I don’t! Is that right?
The Growler has caused me zero hearing loss. I have no medical claims. But in the event that something did happen to me in a jet, I knew the risks long before now. I accept those risks in order to have an exciting job and life. That’s the tradeoff. That’s why aviators train – to minimize risks.
For Field Carrier Landing Practice, the jets must practice at sea level. So unfortunately, all those locations are near the coast where people like to live. Fallon sits at 4800 feet. China Lake sits at 2800 feet. So as long as jets need to land on aircraft carriers (long time), the jets will need to inconvenience people somewhere near the coast to train.
COER’s suggestions are not valid because none of the locations suggested (Yakima, Moses Lake, China Lake) are anywhere near sea level, nor do they replicate the carrier environment. So the only other choice is – move the jets from your backyard into someone else’s backyard on the coast.
I can promise you (aside from all other mitigation strategies) D.C. is only going to move more jets to Whidbey, not less. Why? Quite truthfully, because Congressmen and Senators don’t get elected by 50 Whidbey residents who don’t like jet noise. They get elected by Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Northrup Grumman. I’m not asking you to believe me, nor am I attempting to be snotty. You can look up who the top campaign contributors are to almost every member of the Senate and House Armed Services Committees. And it’s pretty obvious how those votes will go. Your strategy is incorrect. Demanding the Navy change its training program will do absolutely nothing. Neither will calling in noise complaints. Your only strategy is to change how people get elected. All your other techniques are a waste of time and money.
If the Navy needs all these special conditions for their training they should have had the fore site to establish a proper facility with a sufficient buffer zone from civilian population. This is not the case at OLF Coupeville. If the Navy wants to stay here, they should buy out central Whidbey and raze Coupeville to create a military utopia. Otherwise the “50 Whidbey Island residents who don’t like jet noise” will continue to fight for their right to a peaceful and quiet home.
John, thank you for realizing why I support eminent domain.
A new OLF would require:
*A second EIS study of 3-5 years
*Lawsuit settlements, eminent domain and Aviation easements at the new site
*Risking the future of NAS Whidbey Island and therefore the national defense plus Skagit & Island Economies. Perhaps Washington State’s economic health… all for a few folks who strayed into a jet noise area.