For privacy reasons the name of the interviewee has been changed.

Jake lives in a remote desert community located in a Military Operational Area (MOA) in the southwestern United States. His town is 90-120 miles away from two major military airports that are the main source of noise and air pollution in our area.

His family moved there in 2021, attracted to the quiet and scenic landscape. However, they soon noticed increased aviation activity, especially overnight flights that interrupt sleep multiple times a night. Although he can’t confirm an increase in flights, the noise pollution seems worse, with persistent droning lasting for hours in the early mornings and evenings. The noise easily penetrates our brick home.

The worst pollution comes from noisy C130s cargo planes, fighter jet passes, and helicopters, often conducting night training and looping for hours across vast distances. He has calculated these planes can be heard indoors from over 20 miles away. The noise affects his sleep, requiring daytime naps which in turn impact his work. He has experienced vestibular symptoms and severe vibration sensitivity both of which were induced by low-flying military helicopters at his old residence where he had around 10 flyovers a day. Each flyover could be multiple helicopters. from the noise exposure. Weekend nights are a respite they look forward to.

Though far from the flight paths, they do get some air pollution, including occasional kerosene smells during heavy training. The military also uses flares and chaff over the MOAs. Flares contain toxic PFAS chemicals, while chaff releases aluminum-coated fibers. The long-term health effects of these materials worry them. PFA info: http://www.cpeo.org/lists/military/2021/msg00271.html

Jake says that his nose is an air quality monitor. He is right, as the human nose is quite sensitive to detecting chemicals and odors in the air. Here are a few key points about the sensitivity of smell:

Pros

• The human olfactory system can detect over 1 trillion different odors. This makes our sense of smell very sensitive and selective.
• We have around 6 million olfactory receptor cells in our nose that can detect tiny concentrations of airborne molecules.
• The threshold for smell detection depends on the specific chemical. But for some chemicals, the nose can detect concentrations as low as 0.2 parts per billion.

Cons

• The human nose struggles to identify specific chemicals just from smell. Smell gives us information about the presence of certain chemicals, but we may not be able to identify exactly what the chemical is without testing and quantifying.
• Odor fatigue occurs when someone is exposed to a smell for a prolonged time. The sensitivity of the odor receptors decreases temporarily.

There are pollutants like ultra-fine particles that can be undetectable and we need special sensors and instruments in order to quantify them.

He has tried soundproofing his home, but it doesn’t help much with the noise. Local authorities seem oblivious to our plight this far from the bases. He has talked to neighbors, but they feel powerless. The military plans to expand training there and elsewhere, worsening the situation.

His message to the military is they need more transparency about flight paths, times, and noise levels so communities can make informed decisions before moving here. They need more robust noise and pollution studies too. If he could find an area with less noise, he would move, Jake states, but most places have some man-made noise.

They once-quiet community now struggles with the growing consequences of routine military overflights. They hope the military will work with them to address the noise and pollution issues so they can preserve our health and rural lifestyle. Though remote, Jake and his community deserve clean air and peaceful nights too.