The following email was sent today to the NASWI Base Commander, Michael Nortier, requesting notification of flight schedule cancellations for the Coupeville OLF. It may take more than one request to get this done. If you want to add to the strength of the request, you can ask, too. Send your email to Captain Nortier at: whdb_naswi_pao@navy.mil.
Dear Captain Nortier:
It would seem to be a very simple procedure to post cancellations at the Coupeville OLF online, as they occur. Once a system is in place, routine notification would require no more than a few minutes. This would free up the schedules of hundreds of people who live under the flight paths from the restrictions of the cyclical roar, improving the quality of their lives considerably.
Several requests have been made, but still, no published notice.
The Navy should be a good neighbor, taking every opportunity to ease the burden of civilians who have become collateral damage in a mission that does not include their protection.
Would you respond to let me know if this small change can be made? In general, we should know what you know, when you know it. We all need to get on with our day.
This request does not require a lengthy EIS process to make an accommodation. Please provide this community with a temporary measure of relief while the EIS process and court cases proceed. This small adjustment could be critical – literally.
Thank you,
Michael Monson
COER President
This seems like a very reasonable request. I hope to find it accepted.
Dear Captain Nortier,
Please provide your civilian neighbors with notice of flight cancellations. We live directly under the jets, just two to four hundred feet further away from the blasts of their engines than the crew on the deck of a carrier. Like the carrier crew, we limit our plans to the Navy Flight Schedule. We ensure we have noise protection ready, clear the deck, hunker down, and ensure the safety of bystanders – especially our kids, elderly, and pets. Or, we leave. Just like the crew, there things we do specifically because we know the planes will be flying.
Similarly, there are many things we would like to do if we knew the jets would not be flying. When flights are cancelled, the crew goes home or on to other activities. We cannot.
And at the end of the day, often delaying bedtime expecting sleep to be interrupted, we count our losses of what we could have done. You can imagine the range of emotions.
I am sure there are many reasons why providing this information would be difficult. Protecting the nation is a priority. But perhaps there is someone on staff that could take this on and develop a plan, working through the obstacles until it gets done. You have military personnel, active and retired, who live in these neighborhoods. They would benefit, too.
Whatever the effort required, the benefits to this community would be enormous. We need those precious hours and days and the freedom to do what we choose.
Please help us. We deserve the same days off from flight duty as the crews.