Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 27, 1990 TAG: 9004270691
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Ed Shamy
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
But let an F-15 fighter jet roar over the airport for 45 minutes, streak past our mountains, flash onto our runway for an instant and then gun into the blue, as one did Tuesday, and we've got complaints.
An Air Force pilot, on orders from his commander in South Carolina, flew to Roanoke that day to get the feel of our airport. Air traffic controllers here were in contact with him and he obeyed their directions. His jet sheared no treetops, shattered no windows, devoured no Piper Cubs.
Still, there are sensitive-eared people who complained that the jet momentarily interrupted the solitude of Sleepy Hollow. Apparently, they couldn't hear the trains - coal-carrying fingernails on blackboard rails - and that upset them.
The complainers, neighbors of the airport no less, beefed to the airport commission. What did they expect when they bought homes near the airport? Chirping crickets noises from runway 33?.
Commission members agreed to complain to the United States Air Force and to ask for some peace and quiet.
This, mind you, from the same commission that is supposed to be trying to lure another major airline to Roanoke Regional Airport.
Apparently though, not all of Sleepy Hollow was up in arms over the F-15's performance. Some people were thrilled by the visit.
"I'm complaining about them complaining," said Tom Stangler of Vinton, who was on his lunch break nearby when he saw and heard the jet.
"The noise wasn't excessive at all. I'm anti-military, really, but I still don't see the big deal."
Linda Camper was picking up her kids at a nearby school.
"It was a delight, I mean really thrilling! We don't have enough things like this!"
Airport officials even got concerned about traffic on the airport access road, so many people were stopping their cars to watch the jet jockey.
A.L. Mitchell of Roanoke County was nowhere near the airport, but he's still mad.
To Mitchell, the passing F-15 jet stimulates an interest in aviation and spices life in Sleepy Hollow.
"The commission ought to focus its efforts on getting some major airlines here, and on taking the scaffolding off the new terminal, and lay off the Air Force," he said. "What harm did it do?"
He wasn't alone. Airport Manager Robert Poole said about 30 people called his office Thursday to say the F-15 visit didn't bother them - it thrilled them. Two called to complain.
Tuesday's visit ended as quickly as it began when the pilot pointed his nose toward the firmament and stepped on the gas.
"When he hit those afterburners, I knew he wasn't coming back," said Stangler.
Maybe never, if the airport commission has its way.
Hi, Trans World Airlines? You got any silent hot-air balloons you wanna fly out of Roanoke? Gliders? We need solitude in Sleepy Hollow. Sssssh. I wanna hear the trains.
by CNB