A proposal to lower the flight ceiling for noisy fighter jets has dragged on for so long that residents can be forgiven if they’ve put it out of their minds.
(FOX)- But the Air National Guard is pressing forward with the plan with a goal of submitting a revised environmental impact report this year for the Federal Aviation Administration to consider. Public hearings on the proposal could happen as soon as this summer or fall.
Fighter jet pilots who say the airspace is needed for low-level training have been waiting 14 years for a final answer.
“It’s very frustrating for the Guard. We want and we need this to happen,” said Jamie Flanders, airspace manager for the Air National Guard.
Critics among the 78,000 people who live in the sparsely populated training area — about 20 people per square mile — want the plan spiked. They say the screeching jets startle people and wildlife, ultimately hurting tourism and real estate values.
Under the proposal, twin-engine F-15 Eagles from Massachusetts and single-engine F-16 Fighting Falcons from Vermont would be allowed to fly as low as 500 feet in those areas.
The proposal would disperse low-level flights over a bigger area instead of concentrating the planes — and noise — along existing, narrow corridors within Condor, Flanders said.