Fly more quietly in Leeuwarden? These villages are the winners and losers of interventions at the air base

The NLR report, drawn up on behalf of the Ministry of Defense, was presented at the air base on Thursday. In addition to researchers and the base management, a small group of local residents from various villages were also present.

Alternative flight routes and take-off and landing procedures were examined for the report. On paper, in a simulator and with test flights in practice. The aim is to reduce noise pollution in the area around the base, although this is not possible for all villages, according to the researchers.

Winners and losers

The big winner is Marsum, followed by Jelsum. Leeuwarden and Dronryp also seem to benefit rather than suffer from the interventions, which will continue to be refined in the coming months. The residents of Menaam are confronted with a little more noise.

That has to do with one of the routes for take-off. After the take-off in a south-westerly direction (this is by far the most common occurrence), the fighter planes are more likely to ‘turn right’ and veer towards the north, which is the intention. Instead of flying south around Dronryp, the F-35s will then fly between Dronryp and Menaam.

The idea behind this is to distribute the burden more widely among the villages. It is partly a ‘waterbed effect’, as base commander Johan van Deventer calls it. While Marsum can get about 10 decibels less noise, Menaam gets about 3 decibels more. “You must have thought it was a fool. The doarpen give some credit, that’s nice”, says Gerard Veldman about this. Together with Geert Verf, he represents the residents of the air base.

Louder than predecessor

Last weekend it was announced that take-offs with the new F-35 fighter plane, which is much louder than its predecessor the F-16, can be quieter. Van Deventer talked about this in the program on Radio 1 on Saturday Pointer which collaborates with the Leeuwarder Courant. Van Deventer sounded more somber about landing.

He still is on Thursday. “To maintain your speed and angle of descent when landing, you need a certain engine power. It is a sensitive phase of the flight. And for example, going down steeper is more unsafe. We’re not going to do that.”

Local residents would like direct landings, without having to fly a ‘circuit’ beforehand. That won’t happen either, says Van Deventer. “It is a tactical way of approaching. You also do that in a war zone. We just have to practice that.” Wiebe Nieuwsma, chairman of Local Interest Stiens, has not yet accepted this. He was also at the presentation of the report and wants to look for a mix. “Direct landings cause less noise pollution for Stiens.”

Do experiments

Tests will be conducted in the near future to fine-tune possible new routes and procedures. The NLR researchers recommend taking at least three months for this. In the meantime, the monitoring network around the air base and the (new) decibels are being closely monitored.

“We make adjustments in good consultation,” said Van Deventer. “We want to be a good neighbor. But will it be three or even ten times quieter? No, that’s not how it works in the fighter jet world. 110 decibels is a lot and so is 100 decibels. We are going to try to get rid of the high peaks.”

Complex calculations

Gerard Veldman thinks it is a shame that there is not much that can be done about the landings. These calculations are also complex, the researchers say. And they only have limited data.

“Already in May, more profit can be achieved by starting as by starting it,” says Veldman. “There are plenty of possibilities within the Netherlands to introduce ferro rings.” Wiebe Nieuwsma from Stiens has not yet accepted this. “We should not strictly stick to the way things are going now.”