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ne hundred twenty-eight F-35B Lightning II stealth fighter jets could be based at the Marine Corps Air Station at Cherry Point in coming years. The Joint Strike Fighter F-35B Lightning II’s would replace the AV-8B Harriers that now train and practice at Cherry Point.

F35 stealth fighter above the clouds. A proposal would base as many as 128 — and possibly more — of the new jets at Cherry Point. (File photo: Department of Defense)

The Navy wants to position 13 squadrons of the STOVL jets — so acronymed for Short Take-Off, Vertical Landing — on the East Coast. One scenario would put 8 squadrons — 16 jets per squadron, 128 in all — at Cherry Point and 3 at the Air Station in Beaufort, SC. NC politicians – from Governor Beverly Perdue, Senators Burr and Hagan to members of Congress representing the area — reportedly support bringing as many of the squadrons as possible to the Marine Air Station on the Neuse River.

Open House

The proposal is the subject of an “open house” that the Navy is holding from 4-7p today at Anderson Elementary school in Bayboro.

The Bayboro gathering is the last of three that the Navy has held this week. The other two were in Craven and Carteret counties which, boosters say, would gain civilian jobs if the F-35s come in great numbers to Cherry Point. Pamlico County could also see some benefit for residents who would work across the Neuse River.

But some Oriental residents are questioning the price they would would pay in terms of the greater noise levels from the newer jets. It’s not a new question. The issue has cropped up when F35’s were to be based at other military installations across the country, from Idaho, to Arizona and Florida.

Questions About Noise

Oriental is less than 9 miles from Cherry Point — as the jet flies — and as resident Kathy Kellam notes, the town is in the flight path of the Cherry Point runway. Fighter jets from Cherry Point already use that flight path but Kellam says that the F-35’s will mean a “huge increase in noise” for Oriental and “will destroy property values and irreversibly damage our quality of life.”

According to the North West Florida Daily News, an audio engineer who used to work at Eglin Air Force Base on the Florida Panhandle measured the sound level of an F-35 taking off. He said it was more than 100 decibels and twice as loud as an F-15.

An open question is how loud the F-35B would be compared to the AV-8B Harriers now flying out of Cherry Point. Kathy Kellam says that she posed that question when she attended an open house hosted by the Navy several months ago. She says the officials there told her that they “weren’t sure how loud” the F35’s would be.

“Slightly Louder”

Asked on Tuesday about the decibel level of the F-35s, a spokeswoman at Cherry Point said that “under certain parameters” the F-35s “would be slightly louder” than the AV-8B Harriers now based there. Lt. Megan Long said she couldn’t quantify how much louder that would be for residents of Oriental. (She said a colleague in the Public Affairs Department was handling those questions about noise. A Wednesday call to the spokesman was not returned.)

Meanwhile, the Marine Times newspaper reports this week that an F-35 broke the sound barrier in a flight last Thursday near the Chesapeake.

F35. (File photo: Department of Defense)

Flights Over Oriental But Not Havelock

The Navy has drafted an Environmental Impact Statement for basing the Lightning II jets at Cherry Point. Section 5.3, titled, “Noise,” says that the jets would “avoid overflying the City of Havelock, Minnesott Beach, Cedar Island Ferry Terminal and the ferry.”

Oriental is not listed on that no-flyover list.

Instead, Oriental and Pamlico County are among the very few areas of land between Virginia and Florida where flying is allowed. On page 26 of the Navy’s Executive Summary, a map shows “East Coast Core Airspace and Ranges”. Most of that “Core Airspace” is over the waters of the Atlantic. In NC the exceptions are the area near Camp LeJeune, and the land at the mouth of the Neuse River at the bottom of the Pamlico Sound. Oriental appears to be included in that “Core Airspace.”

Residents Encouraged To Speak at Open House

When asked if the Navy could add Oriental to its no-flyover list — along with the city of Havelock — Cherry Point spokeswoman Lt. Long said that residents could raise that issue, as well as other questions, at the Open House in Bayboro. She said she “encouraged” residents to attend.

There will be no forum, per se, at the open house. Rather, the Navy will have a stenographer on hand to take comments from the public. The forum is 4-7p Thursday June 17 at Anderson Elementary school in Bayboro.

Those unable to attend may write comments to:
USMC F-35B East Coast Basing EIS
P.O. Box 56488, Jacksonville, FL 32241

Posted Thursday June 17, 2010 by Melinda Penkava