Re: Feb. 7 guest column in the Arizona Daily Star Supporting the F-35 is supporting our community
Brian Andrews is correct that the F-35 “is the jet fighter of the future,” but he is wrong when he writes that supporting the F-35 is supporting our community.
Davis-Monthan’s current fighter jet, the A-10, regularly flies over our midtown neighborhoods. For most of us, its noise is tolerable. But according to the Air Force itself, the noise of the F-35 is eight times as loud as the A-10 noise.
For tens of thousands of Tucsonans, the noise of F-35s will destroy our neighborhoods’ livability and our property values. Davis-Monthan can continue as a vital and viable part of Tucson by attracting future missions that are compatible with the residential neighborhoods that lie beneath the base’s flight paths.
All parties will win when D-M has a strong program of missions that minimize the damage to this community’s health, livability and property values.
Gary Hunter, Retired civil engineer, Tucson