Community patience is wearing thin as Vermont Air National Guard and BTV officials present new F-35 noise reduction plans

SOUTH BURLINGTON – The Vermont Air National Guard on Wednesday detailed a new initiative to use afterburners on F-35s based at Patrick Leahy International Airport to reduce the impact of noise from fighter jets on local communities.

The initiative is likely months away from being approved or implemented. However, if approved, the use of afterburners, which act as auxiliary jets that add power to the aircraft’s engine and increase thrust on takeoff, could allow F-35s to take off from shorter distances and reach a higher altitude on takeoff. Col. Daniel Finnegan, 158th Fighter Wing Commander.

He then said that noise pollution from aircraft could be significantly reduced by reducing power at high altitude.

Initial conversations with sound engineers suggested the initiative could move “thousands of people” away from the local noise line, “potentially including the entire city of Winooski,” Finnegan said at a roundtable at the airport Wednesday night.

The press event was planned due to waning patience with the mission. In recent months, four municipalities in Chittenden County have filed resolutions calling for the airport to be reconsidered as a base for the Vermont Air National Guard’s F-35 mission.

Finnegan said Wednesday that this new take-off method could make a difference for noise-impacted communities. The security guard said he would “begin flying this new takeoff profile immediately if it were possible,” but that the initiative would have to go through a new federal environmental impact study expected to begin in January and finish in March.

Afterburners are not allowed at the airport, Finnegan said, based on restrictions established in a similar study conducted in 2013. “This restriction was determined based on what I believe was a fundamental misunderstanding about afterburners used by those who opposed basing F-35s during initial discussions,” he said.

“We are fully committed to minimizing our noise impact, both as members of this community and as those who serve it,” Finnegan said. “The additional (study) is another step in fulfilling our long-standing commitment to be responsible stewards of society and to do everything we can to improve it.”

But for many residents who have publicly opposed the F-35s since their arrival — like former South Burlington City Councilwoman Meghan Emery — the plan to use afterburners to reduce noise is “a nightmare scenario,” he said.

“This shows how hopeless and impossible the task of reducing noise with the F-35s here is,” Emery said. “It underscores that this is an incompatible mission. “There are no other words, this is a misfit, and it is time for our senior leaders to stand up for the suffering residents of this part of Vermont.”

F-35s have been at the airport since 2019. According to Col. Michael Blair, the base currently has 20 aircraft used for training purposes. He said the mission employs hundreds of people and brings $63 million a year into the local economy through wages and benefits alone.

“We are here. “When there is a state emergency, our people are called,” Finnegan said. “This is all a byproduct of having 1,000 people here to support the F-35s.”

The security guard also works in cooperation with the airport. Nic Longo, the airport’s aviation manager, said security guards provide stand-alone firefighting services at this airport and provide mutual aid to all surrounding communities at no cost.

The Vermont Air National Guard has leased more than 281 acres of land at the Burlington airport and recently approved by the Burlington City Council for a 25-year lease extension.

“This is extremely important because not a single commercial flight operation can take place at this airport without the support of the fire department that is there,” Longo said.

But since the plane’s arrival, some members of the community have strongly opposed the mission. Their flights cause booming sound effects throughout Chittenden County that some argue are detrimental to residents’ quality of life.

Burlington in August resolution directing the city to meet with Vermont’s congressional delegation about basing F-35s. Similar decisions followed in Winooski and South Burlingtonwhere the airport is located. Williston also submitted a resolution this month, but put it on the table.

“I respect the work and dedication of the Air National Guard. I know they serve an important purpose for the country in terms of national defense. “I don’t want to belittle anything about their mission here,” South Burlington City Council President Tim Barritt said during the meeting. It’s an opportunity for them to express that noise is an incompatible use, period. It’s just an incompatible use.”

“There is no discussion and there are no plans for reassignment,” Finnegan said in response to questions about the decisions made at the roundtable.

“We work hard to reduce noise through various mitigation efforts, and our goal has always been to balance our mission with responsibility to the community,” Finnegan said.

Both the airport and security have taken steps to reduce noise impacts from military aircraft.

A. residential sound insulation programThe project, which the airport put into service in 2022, is still ongoing and will soon enter its fourth phase. Approximately 25 homeowners have participated in the program since its inception.

The Guardian’s proposal on Wednesday comes alongside the release of a new sound map. The map, which is republished every five years, uses data collected from “every flight operation at the airport” and is a key component guiding the airport’s ongoing soundproofing program, Longo said.

Longo said the airport’s previous map, published in 2019, was produced before F-35s were stationed at the airport and used data on the environmental impact statement as well as projected flight operational data from F-35s at other airports.

But the map released Wednesday reduces the noise contour line, essentially reducing the number of housing units previously eligible for the noise insulation program from roughly 2,600 homes to about 2,400.

“That also means that the noise is less than what was predicted in 2019, so there’s a reduction in the predicted noise, there’s a real reduction in the data that we’re actually collecting with the radar information and the noise information,” he said.

The Federal Aviation Administration allocates about $5 million a year to the insulation program, which is enough to fund the work of up to 50 homes a year, Longo said. (The program is optional).

Longo said at the roundtable that the airport has applied for a nearly $18 million grant opportunity from the U.S. Department of Defense that would provide more funding to homeowners who want to modify their homes to protect them from aircraft noise.

“If we can get $18 million, we can greatly advance this program,” Longo said in an interview.

But these initiatives are months or possibly years away from being approved or implemented.

Although the soundproofing program in South Burlington has been “very slow progress,” Barritt said, it has provided benefits for those most affected by the F-35’s takeoff.

“But I don’t see any way for the guard to reduce the noise,” he said. “I don’t think it’s going to make a real difference for people in Winooski to change their takeoff power and adjust when they reach elevation.”

The only achievable balance is to reduce the number of flights, Emery said in an interview.

“I think the military will have a minimum threshold where having the F-35 here is no longer tenable and will find a more suitable location for it. “So we may not find that sweet spot because of all the different criteria and factors that play into the Air Force’s thresholds and decision-making processes,” he said.

“I don’t think there can be a compromise that will meet their needs and meet the needs of the people here.”