Bob Thomas Writes

It’s not the end of the world! It’s a Jet.
(Bogue Banks is an Island off the NC Coast. Home to a Carrier Landing training field for Navy Pilots)
Are you at all surprised to see, and hear, jets flying over your head if you live on, or near, Bogue Banks? Did you just wake up one day and tell your, equally surprised spouse, “Honey, I believe we have airplanes flying over our house”!
I know that things have quieted down for awhile about this subject, but I have an opinion worth about two cents and I wanted to share it with you. If you don’t want to hear, or read, anymore about it, now would be a good time to go on to the next page!

When you first came here to shop for a place to buy, or build your new house, did you not notice the Harrier’s, F-16’s, helicopters and assorted other aircraft flying around? Did you not know that there were 40 – 50,000+ Marines and Sailors living in the area? Did you not know that Morehead City was a major port for deploying these forces? Did you not see the signs designating Highway 24 as a “Military Highway”? Did you not notice that “they” were here first?
Oh, you did know all of that! And you moved here anyway? Well, let me ask a question. WHY ARE YOU COMPLAINING SO MUCH? If you had built your house in the median of I-95 would you be trying to stop the cars and trucks now? If you had built next to Lowe’s Motor Speedway would you be trying to get NASCAR to put mufflers on the cars? Well, what makes you think that the U.S. Government is going to MOVE or shut down, a multi-million dollar air field for you?

Oh, you don’t want it moved! You just want them to stop flying over your house and making so much noise! Well, oddly enough, it’s damned near impossible to get a plane in the air ‘quietly’! It’s just the nature of aircraft to make a lot of noise in order to overcome the forces of gravity! Especially if you’re trying to get it off of an extraordinarily short airfield! And no, you can’t put a muffler on a jet!

Plus, some of you have said you could see the pilots in the planes as they fly by… so what? That just means you have good eyesight! Imagine how you’d feel if you couldn’t see a pilot in the plane! I can see the driver in a truck as he drives by my house, but I don’t necessarily think he’s going to drive through the house! Although, the odds of him doing that are far greater than the odds of that “highly trained, multi-million dollar pilot and plane” crashing into my house!

You don’t like the noise, so you think the pilot should risk his life a little bit more and avoid your house by climbing higher and faster than is reasonable. Granted the plane probably could fly straight up. . . but it’s really not very practical. Perhaps he could shut down his engines and glide past your house! Although I understand the Harrier glides like a brick! And most helicopters generally fly “straight down” when the engine shuts off! But, they don’t make any noise at all while doing it! Well, they do make a “sudden noise” on impact, but that’s all!

The fact that most pilots would darn near “commit suicide” by staying in the plane long enough to get it away from your house, and mine, doesn’t impress you at all I know, so we won’t talk about that. . . but, the fact that they are willing to risk their life to protect me, and you, by climbing in the darn thing in the first place is pretty impressive to me! I’m curious, would you sit on several thousand pounds of jet fuel, bombs, rockets and bullets and “light a fire”? Of course I know that you don’t question their bravery or commitment to their oath to protect and serve us . . . you just want them to do it somewhere else!

I believe that any young man or woman who is willing to fly into a hail of flack, bullets, rockets, other aircraft and missiles twice the size of telephone poles . . . and occasionally loose their life. . . deserves our “unlimited support” in learning their craft.

If you want to understand why Bogue Field is there, and what they’re doing over there, then strip it down to the basics….. If YOUR Son or Daughter was flying a damaged F-16 towards a pitching aircraft carrier on a dark, stormy night in the middle of an ocean somewhere far from home, would you still begrudge them the noise they made while learning how to land that plane at Bogue Field? Is it not important to you that they learned how to do it on land first, before they had to land on that pitching deck without killing themselves or their ship mates?

To give you an idea how they must feel as they navigate towards a bouncing ship at night, go stand in the largest room in your house, place a postage stamp in the middle of the floor and go stand by the wall farthest away from the stamp. Now, take a running start and race across the room, dive head first towards the stamp and ‘lick it’ before you crash into the floor! Oh, turn the lights out first, wrap a string of Christmas tree lights around your head and tie a flashlight on your cat! Then try to see the stamp while holding the cat up in the air by it’s tail with one hand, and juggle hand grenades with the other hand! Don’t forget to wear your helmet, boots, survival gear, gloves and parachute! If you want to make it “more real” you can wear head phones and listen to Rap Music at max volume! If you’re lucky, you will have learned how to do this at Bogue Field. . . in the daylight, in a plane that’s in good working order, without the cat!

I know that I’m being a bit extreme in my opinions. And, I know that there are many other reasons for the way you feel. I know that you are a patriotic, red-blooded American who would never, never wish any harm to the pilots and air crews who risk their life daily. But, they do have to learn their craft, and this is where they learn it. I’m kinda’ proud of the fact that Eastern North Carolina is home to these warriors. On the land, at sea and in the air. And I hope there is a solution to the problem, but I can only suggest, “Be Careful What You Wish For”! If they can’t train here, then there’s no reason for them to live here, shop here, buy homes here or retire here!

We, all of us, don’t like the noise. Or “The Sound Of Freedom” as it’s often called. But, perhaps it’s our perspective. . . .the noise is a minor irritation to us. To the pilot it means he still has the power to overcome the unforgiving pull of gravity. . . and fly ‘past’ the houses under him. So, I guess to some folks the noise is, as Martha Stewart would say, a good thing!

As for you folks who don’t agree with me. I know you don’t, so it’s not necessary to write me and tell me about it!

Write to the editor instead . . . he’s the one who printed this! On second thought, don’t do that either ‘cause I’m the editor! Hey, it’s my paper!

. . . and NO, I’m not an ex-pilot! I was enlisted Air Force and I flew as ‘cargo’ most of the time! I also had to sit in a few bars in a few foreign countries and listen to Navy and Marine pilots tell everyone how much better they were than the Air Force! And if I could find a few of them now. . . and if I’d had one or two beers. . . I’d remind them that the Air Force can learn to fly “anywhere” without the citizens throwing rocks at us! And. . . if you have to land on a ‘boat’ it’s probably because you couldn’t find the beach! And, no we don’t have ‘hooks’ on our planes because we know how to land them. . . we don’t have to be ‘snatched’ out of the sky!
Go Air Force!