Editor,

Opposition to Navy flight training use of Outlying Field Coupeville citing excessive noise levels appears to have survived a replanting.

Individuals willing to trade our national ensign trifolded on their behalf as grateful citizens who value solitude over the safety of those who willingly face hazardous future unknowns as conditions of service on behalf of their fellow citizenry.

Let me add a little tidbit of safety that has little been mentioned by either opposition or proponents either by design or senior moments.

Shipboard personnel who inhabit those big gray ladies are the folks who support the aircraft and their flight crews. Flight crew safety must be understood to be appreciated. We who have turned the wrenches as well as those who light the fires must not fail to acknowledge how training affects either group.

A young person’s flight deck position within inches of a launching aircraft, signaling thumbs up or down seconds before the scheduled launches, defines hazardous.

If you need a visual reference as to value of training required of those involved blue water flight ops, research CVA-59 USS Forestal, July 29, 1967. I’ll leave you with the choice whether to view what a lack of adequate training can lead to at sea.

Thomas Strang

Coupeville