Are The 148th Jets Louder or Flying More Lately? Here’s The Answer
I don't know about you, but I've sure been hearing our fighter squadron practicing a lot more. It seems like several times a day we can hear those F-16's roaring overhead. There's a few reasons we are hearing them more, and it may not be because they are actually flying any more than usual.
This was brought up on reddit and a member "in the know" commented on why we may be noticing the exercises more.
First off, yes they have been flying training missions frequently in the last couple of weeks. But not THAT much more frequently than normal. The reason we are noticing them more has to do with the weather.
The cold air and high pressure allows the sound to travel farther. Sound travels faster through warm air, but farther in cold air. So you're hearing them from a greater distance away than those warmer summer months.
The other factor is we've had a lot of days with a Northwest wind. Wind direction dictates which runways are used, and the jets have been flying different patterns than we are used to. So they are covering different areas with their flight patterns.