If it seems as if the roar of military jets landing at or taking off from Palm Springs International Airport is heard more often these days, that's because it is.
Airport statistics show that through September there were 1,555 military aircraft operations — takeoffs or landings — at the airport, compared to 1,397 operations in all of last year. The total through the first nine months of this year exceeds the full-year total of military operations for each of at least the past five years.
And while airport and city officials have taken steps to urge military flyers to be “good neighbors” and limit their noise in any ways they can, no one is asking the military if it can limit its local landings.
Airport executive director Thomas Nolan said Palm Springs International Airport has received more than $100 million in federal grants over the years. Those grants include provisions that the airport must allow government aircraft to use the facilities without restriction or charge, he said.
“I'm basically prohibited by federal law from talking about prohibiting federal aircraft,” Nolan said.
Added City Manager David Ready, “We cannot prevent military jets from landing. Our whole goal is when they do land in Palm Springs, they take appropriate measures to reduce the noise. That's been the goal all along.
“We understand it's a problem, and we understand it's ongoing. The things we have been able to do so far have not solved the problem, because we're still getting complaints, and the number of (military) flights are up.”
Part-time city resident Bonnie Baggett, who lives less than a mile southeast of the airport and finds the military jet noise a frequent problem, wonders why city officials don't at least ask the military if it can adjust its activities, either diverting some of its flights to other airports that will still accomplish the same training goal, or attempting to limit activity in Palm Springs to during daytime hours and the work week. Baggett said she wasn't surprised that the city's and airport's efforts have focused on signs and messages.
“That takes the pressure off and allows them to say, ‘I am doing something,'” she said.
No explanation
It's unclear why military jet flights have increased in Palm Springs in the past year.
“We have no way of knowing why that is; nor will the military share it with us,” Ready said.
But why the military comes to the airport is more apparent — fuel.
Palm Springs is one of about 350 airports nationwide contracted with the Defense Energy Support Center, a logistical support wing of the Armed Forces. Atlantic Aviation, a fixed-base operator providing fuel and other services at the airport, is contracted to provide fuel and other services for military aircraft on demand.
Nolan said the military takes 1 million gallons of jet fuel at the airport annually.
Palm Springs FBO Two LLC — Atlantic's operation at the Palm Springs airport — in March 2010 received a $5.4 million contract from the Department of Defense to provide fuel for the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and federal civilian agencies. The contract lasts through March 2014, and isn't the first one for a fixed-base operator at the airport.
Contacted for comment, Atlantic Aviation general manager Karin Davidson said the military activity at Palm Springs “is a great economic benefit” to the community, but declined further comment.
“We used to use Palm Springs occasionally for refueling,” said retired Army Lt. Col. Tom Lasser, who commanded the Los Alamitos Army Airfield in Orange County from 1996 to 2001.
“Army aircraft would not operate out of [Palm Springs International] routinely but mainly on cross country flights requiring fuel or overnight stay.”
Navy and Marines officials did not provide answers to The Desert Sun's questions this week.
In June, Navy Lt. Aaron Kakiel, spokesman for U.S. Naval Air Forces at North Island Naval Air Station in San Diego — the command center for all Navy aviation activities west of the Mississippi River — said photos The Desert Sun showed him of Navy T-45 Goshawk jets at Palm Springs airport were from the Navy's Training Air Wing 2 in Kingsville, Texas. Student pilots are required to undertake cross-country flights that include take-offs and landings as part of their training, Kakiel said.
“We try and minimize the amount of time we are doing that outside of our normal training areas,” he said. “We understand it does cause some inconvenience to local residents, but appreciate their patience while these pilots and air crew conduct vital training that is part of their mission to defend the United States.”
Ready said the airport officials observe the military jets landing, taking on fuel and taking off again most often, but occasionally staying the night before leaving. Palm Springs airport's size is probably just right for such activity, he noted.
“I don't think you're going to get those kinds of military jets in the larger airports where there's a more significant amount of commercial traffic,” he said.
Following area resident complaints last summer, airport officials put up signs on the air field, a letter on the airport's website and have sent letters to military bases asking incoming military flyers to practice “good neighbor” techniques and fly as quietly as they can, Nolan said.
Understanding that the airport cannot prohibit the military flights, Nolan cited their positive impacts.
“There is an economic benefit from the military using the airport,” he said, adding that Atlantic Aviation receives “well over $250,000 to maybe $500,000 in gross revenue” from the military jets' fueling.
“They employ people who live and work in this community,” he said.
When crews stay overnight, “they eat in restaurants ... they stay in hotels,” Nolan said. “That means transient occupancy tax; that means supporting local business.” He added that it's unclear how much of that kind of revenue military activity generates.
The Rev. Michael Adams, a retired priest who lives in the Mountain Shadows complex near the airport, said city and airport officials should act with more of a sense of “urgency, determination or concern” with the military.
“They've got to set up their own hierarchy of values and determine what's more important, the goodwill and peaceful living of their constituents, or an extra buck?” he said.
Ready, however, said economic considerations aren't driving the city's actions.
“The military jets, the money that the city gets from fuel, that is not a driving force in this at all,” he said, adding that the city's cut of military fuel sales from Atlantic is “under $50,000 a year.”
“It's not a tourism issue; it's not a hotel tax issue,” Ready said.
Nolan said city officials recognize that the military aircraft are louder than others.
“If they were to voluntarily reduce their operations here at the airport, and help reduce the impact to the residential community, we would not feel bad about that in any way,” he said.
Mayor Steve Pougnet responded to a request for comment with an emailed statement, saying he will ask the city manager to form a subcommittee of the council to further explore the issue.
Ready said he also will update the council on the “significant steps taken up to now” on the military jet noise issue, and explore possible future steps, including, perhaps, requesting that the military voluntarily take actions to reduce its jet traffic in Palm Springs.
Baggett said the city should undertake a noise study, as its last one was done in 1994 and much — including the increased military jet activity — has changed.
She noted people in other parts of the valley often “say people who object to the military noise are unpatriotic.”
“Spend the weekend in my place; let's see if we're unpatriotic,” she said.
But Leo Priest, a World War II veteran and Pearl Harbor survivor, also lives on the airport's flight path less than a mile south of the facility, and said he supports the fighter jets coming into the airport.
“If the military feels it's necessary to do what they are doing, in my book it's A-OK,” he said.
The noise is only for a few moments, Priest said. “But the fuss (some) raise about that noise is ridiculous. They don't think about what it's about. They only think of themselves.”
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