Group Says Noise From Aircraft Causing 'Emotional Issues'

Some people living near the Navy's Whidbey Naval Air Station have filed a motion for a preliminary injunction in U.S. District Court to stop the Navy from conducting carrier landing practice at its Outlying Landing Field south of Coupeville.

Television station KOMO reports that the group, Citizens of Eby Reserve, say that the low-flying aircraft have caused at least three people to be "adversely affected" due noise from the jets. The field is used by the Navy's EA-18G Growlers used for Field Carrier Landing Practice (FCLP). Aircraft fly fairly low and slow on those approaches, and then conduct touch-and-go landings at the field.

One family with two children ages six and one who are named in the complaint say they moved into the neighborhood a year ago when there was a moratorium on FCLP at the facility. But the Navy has since resumed the practice.

Dan Askins, the family's father, said he is the son of an Air Force colonel who grew up on Air Force Bases near runways, but "it was nothing like this," he told the station. He said the noise from the jets is damaging his childrens' hearing and causing emotional issues for his family.

In 2013, a citizen's group filed a lawsuit to stop the flights entirely. That suit was reportedly delayed while the Navy prepared an Environmental Impact Statement about the flights. The motion filed this week asks that the Navy stop all Growler flights at the facility until that EIS is completed.

(Image from file)

FMI: www.wawd.uscourts.gov, www.navy.mil