To Whom it may concern,
So what is loud? And just how loud is it when the planes fly over our houses in Alpine? In my world I don’t really live thinking about decibels. That measurement isn’t really part of my reality. I don’t walk around and think, “Wow – that must be over 80 decibels.” Or “my that’s an awful lot of decibels.” But here are a couple of real life examples that may help explain what LOUD is.
Recently I had propane delivered to my house and the delivery driver had everything connected and he was ready to pump the propane. But it seemed like he wasn’t starting to pump. I was just a few feet away from him and asked “is everything okay, did you start to pump?” He said “No, I didn’t start yet, I’m waiting for the plane to pass so I can hear the pump on the truck running.” And let me just say, the pump on the propane delivery truck makes a considerably loud noise when it’s running.
Second example. December, 2020 we had a Santa Ana event and SDG&E cut power to the homes in Alpine, among many other areas. I have a 12,000 watt backup generator that is pretty darned loud, and it’s annoying when I have to run it. But when the planes flew over my house the other day, I literally could not hear the noise of the generator running when sitting inside my house. The noise from the planes actually drowned out the noise of a 12,000 watt, gasoline powered generator. That’s LOUD! So how many decibels were involved? I have no idea. Frankly I don’t need to know. Regardless of the decibels involved, what I have just described is absolutely crazy that we have to live with this incredibly disturbing, obnoxious noise, every day of our life here in – previously quiet, peaceful, Alpine CA.
And at some point today there were 3 planes directly overhead all at once. Just flying at different altitudes, but all in a close proximity of one another and each one of them making a lot of noise. More noise than a propane delivery truck, and more than a 12,000 watt backup generator.
— BMB
