Fighter jets flying out of Moffett Federal Airfield prompt noise complaints from nearby residents
The overhead activity is expected to continue until middle of March
Ever since military fighter jets have been flying out of Moffett Federal Airfield as part of training exercises since earlier this month, Master Sgt. Joel Mattenson of airfield operations said he's fielded a noise complaint every time the jets have taken off.
“We assure them there is nothing wrong,” he said. “Our airspace routes are being monitored by the (Federal Aviation Administration) so we have no control once the airplanes take off. We receive complaints about the noise because the local community isn't used to having a jet fighter aircraft flying all hours of the day.”
The Northrop F-5 Tiger Eye II jets have been conducting aircraft operating training missions as “aggressors for the Navy” out of Moffett, near the NASA Ames Research Center, since the beginning of February and will continue to fly across the Bay Area until mid-March. None of the jets are flying out after 8 p.m. or taking off before 8 a.m., Mattenson said.
The military jets are being stationed at Moffett because it's “very close” to the military operations area out in the water, according to Mattenson. F-5s also don't have a long-range airframe so they have to be close to somewhere they can get get fuel and land very quickly. In the movie “Top Gun,” F-5s were used to be MiG 28s, a Russian-built fighter jet,
The FAA couldn't immediately be reached for comment.
Bay Area residents began noticing the fighter jets earlier this month.
“I live by a federal airfield in the Bay Area & there have been fighter jets flying around for the past week. What are they getting ready for?” a resident tweeted on Feb. 8.
Because Moffett is near San Jose International Airport, the jets have to fly a certain route in order to avoid other planes. The majority of the noise complaints have come out of Los Gatos and Sunnyvale, Mattenson said.
“It's just routine training,” he added. “There's nothing out of the ordinary. They've used our fields for several occasions, and it's just a normal, standard training operation.”