— by Lin McNulty —
It sounds like far-off rolling thunder, somewhat between a roar and a rumble. What the heck is it? It’s been going on for at least a week—or at least I’ve been paying attention to it during the last week.
Anecdotal explanations range from “it’s all in your head,” to “it’s the Prowlers on Whidbey.” I was more interested in pursuing the possible Whidbey connection that I was in pursuing what might be going on in my head, so I spoke with Michael Welding, Public Affairs Officer at NAS (Naval Air Station) Whidbey.
During the month of November, the Navy has been conducting flight operations that they refer to as FCLPs. That is Field Carrier Landing Practice in civilianese. What this means is that four-five aircraft circle Ault Field in a designated pattern to practice a land-based operation as if they were landing on an aircraft carrier.
It’s not necessarily the suspected EA-6B Prowler, however, that we are hearing. The Prowler is a twin-engine, mid-wing electronic warfare aircraft from Northrop Grumman. Most of the operations, now, are being conducted with the newer Boeing EA-18G Growlers, an American carrier-based electronic warfare aircraft that is a specialized version of the two-seat F/A-18F Super Hornet.
These sorts of operations happen regularly on Whidbey. The reason we may be hearing them now, according to Welding, is due to atmospheric conditions. Our weather patterns are affecting how the sound travels through the atmosphere. And, bingo! We are in the path of that sound. Oh, and the frequency on the new Growlers is much lower than the Prowler.
Welding stresses, however, that he cannot definitively say that is what we are hearing, although it likely is. I certainly like that explanation better than it’s “all in my head.”
Believe me, its not all in your head! Out here in Doe Bay/Olga its been pretty constant the last several nights for several hours. At times the whole house rattles. And, yes they do seem to fly the planes in cycles and this week has been very active. There is also another low rumbling from tankers and freighters passing by, but that’s much less disturbing. I’m hoping they take a break tomorrow!
The low roar of what sounds like a very large electric engine running at low RPM’s has been present in my ears for several years in Deer Harbor. Not everybody I have mentioned it to hears it but some do. I have been tested in a sound and vibration proof cubicle and the sound is almost but not entirely gone. The best guess from professionals is that it is more prevalent for people with near total loss of hearing of high pitched sounds like smoke alarms and near 100% hearing sensitivity to sounds in the low ranges like bass drums and bass guitars. My best guess(something akin to a WAG)is that the source of the sound is a combination of things always present like the compressor noise of refrigerators & walk-in cool boxes and the water transmitted sound of the huge diesel engines on every commercial vessel, including the Ferries. Since sometimes it is more prevalent than at other times, it can be said that at least part of the sound is from aircraft – both military and civilian. Slow flying aircraft would cause more air vibration at low altitudes.