Well put Supe. I still stop what I'm doing and look to the sky, whether it's a Cessna or F-15. It's the reason I'm an aerospace engineer, and the reason I will be a pilot someday (hopefully soon).

The sacrifice our men in uniform selflessly make for us is nothing short of remarkable, they have my endless respect and gratitude. The same thing goes for our other public servants, who risk their lives for very little reward.

i used to live a with in a couple of miles of the south end of SeaTac airport.

it would freak people out coming over for a visit to see planes coming in for a landing directly over our street. i got to be pretty good at being able to tell how many engines the planes had without even looking up. open a window and all you heard for 15 minutes was planes landing or taking off. this would happen twice an hour.

luckily with the addition of the 3rd runway the port did $25k in sound insulation to the house at their expense. if the windows were closed you could barley tell a plane was overhead.

major benefit....low heating bills.

love the response from the airman...he could have been real obnoxious if he wanted but took the high road.

It is daytime and you live near an AFB, WTF do you have to complain about? I am extrememly dubious about the sincerity of his apology. Some jerkoff busybody writes a letter to the editor because he is bitter about noise from an airbase, steps on his dick by putting his name on there, then when the storm starts, he figures he has to do something.

BTW, you don't get to be a Lt Col in charge of a couple billion worth of men and equipment without knowing how to handle yourself, of course his response was classy and professional, his name was on it.

Nice contrast between the initial letter and the response I would say.