Seacoast History Blog # 125 
August 13, 2011

I haven’t gotten a thing done in two days. Every time the Thunderbird jets pass over my home office I have to run out and see them. I can’t help it. I am compelled like a hypnotized man to see them flash by. I’ve taken dozens of videos, even though the tiny shiny triangles look like specs on the screen. But I’m not going to the Air Show this year. Never again. I got too close to the action last year at Pease AFB and my right ear has never been the same. Those incredible machines are dangerous, and not just for the pilots. Super loud noises can cause permanent hearing damage. I know. It happened to me. Why let it happen to you or your kids? (Continued below)

This was going to be a detailed investigative article on the danger of getting too close to screaming jet engines. But I ran out of time. They’re here. They are buzzing my house even now. So, instead, this is a quick warning from someone who now knows better. PROTECT YOUR EARS. And more importantly, protect your children.

You won’t hear this on the radio or read it in the newspapers. The local media is having a love-fest with the return of the air show at the former Pease AFB in Newington, NH. It’s exciting. It’s dramatic. And it’s good business. The cash is flowing like the Piscataqua tide.

But it’s also dangerous. They’re not called the Thunderbirds for nothing. Visitors sit right on the hot echoing tarmac within yards of the jets. Last year I was right there in the press area. I watched kids literally crying with the ear-splitting sound as the jet pilots performed super human circus stunts overhead, flying upside down in formation at incredible speeds close to the ground.

I wasn’t stupid. I brought a whole box of foam earplugs that I passed around. I have very bad eyesight so I rely a lot on my hearing. But even with the earplugs the noise was actually painful. So I cupped my hands over my ears, and in doing so, the doctor thinks, I may have pressed the earplugs too deeply into the super sensitive inner ear canal. Things have never been the same since.

You won’t find big warnings coming from the media. You won’t find investigative reports. There’s very little even on the Internet about the risk of losing your hearing at a jet air show.

I asked the media company promoting the Boston-Portsmouth Air Show to send me whatever they could offer about audio levels and hearing protection for audience members. The spokesperson wrote back to say: “I will see what I can do about a hearing protection release.  I don’t have one on hand.” The show is tomorrow and I’ve seen nothing yet. Today’s advisory only reminds visitors not to tailgate or bring coolers, weapons, skateboards, or large umbrellas.

I found a few notes online from hearing professionals warning of potential permanent damage, but official releases, even those that suggest bringing earplugs, note that the show is perfectly safe. Curiously an online promotion for a Georgia air show notes: “Do bring ear plugs: Loud noises on the flight line can damage your ears. Hearing protection is recommended.” On another site, air show attendees are told that any loud noise has the potential to be harmful, even the sound of cicadas. But cicadas don’t charge big bucks to perform.

Skip the obvious dangers. I won’t tick off the number of air show pilots from the Blue Angels (Ok 26 have died during air shows so far) and Thundrbirds who have died in flashing crashes. Forget that they’re circling your family for hours or your neighborhood for days. Forget that an FB11A jet crashed into a housing development right next to mine in 1981 where 3,000 people lived. Accidents happen.

Forget that the loudspeakers at the show promote high tech warfare around the world while blasting acid rock music to the crowds. Forget that the recruiters are swarming through the crowd like cicadas while the beer flows and jets roar.

I want to stay on  topic, so I won’t even mention the searing heat at the airport last summer or the lack of available water or the hour-long lines to get a hamburger. No sense in bringing up the fact that my companion and I waited three and a half hours to get out of the parking lot after the show was over – and we had MEDIA passes. In fact, after 90 minutes in a line that was not moving, we shut off the car and walked to a restaurant at Pease Tradeport. We had a drink, ate dinner, walked back – and the line was still there.

According to ASHA, the hearing professionals, and I quote:

Very loud noise can cause permanent hearing loss. This is called noise-induced hearing loss. Listening to loud noise for long periods of time can damage the hair cells in the inner ear. Noise-induced hearing loss usually develops gradually and painlessly. A single exposure to an extremely loud sound such as an explosion can cause a sudden loss of hearing. This is called acoustic trauma.

If you want to get a sense of the noise level at an air show, turn up your speakers and watch this YouTube clip:  (CLICK HERE).

Interesting that the item below appears in the official booklet for the preparation of Thunderbird and Blue Angel shows at Shaw Air Force Base in South Carolina:

“Ensure members of the security/law enforcement team are on hand early, and positioned at specific intervals along the crowd line, to ensure the integrity of the intended crowd line is maintained.  F-15/F-15E Strike Eagle, F-22, and F-16 engines are extremely noisy, and could cause ear damage if someone without ear protection breaks past the crowd line and moves toward the aircraft. Additionally, physical harm could come to people near running aircraft.”

Compare that with his public release for people attending a similar air show in Australia. The bold lettering is in the original public announcement:

“The display will also create high noise periods. However, the brief duration of the noise is such that there is no risk of hearing damage. However, because the noise can alarm small children and the elderly, ear plugs will be available from the Air Force Cadets around the Strand before and during the air display.”

And as I noted, earplugs won’t save you. The second best bet, of course, is to buy a pair of those noise-cancellation headphones that professional people in noisy situations wear all the time. You have to wear them on the firing range. A cheap set, however, is about $70 and the really good ones run to hundreds of dollars. Earplugs cost pennies, even if they don’t do the trick.

The safest bet, of course, is to stay home. But I would never recommend that. The show is stupendously thrilling. In fact, I gotta run. They’re buzzing the house again right now. God bless America!

© J. Dennis Robinson, all rights reserved on SeacaostNH.com