A battle is shaping up over noise in the Coronado sky.
Naval Air Station North Island will soon be home base for a new group of Navy aircraft, the CMV-22B Osprey.
Neighbors on the island are worried they'll be much louder than their C-2A predecessors. The Navy says noise levels will be similar but residents who deal with the sounds of Navy operations daily have their doubts.
“I used to fly the C-2A,” resident Nick Petriccine said. “I've seen the C-2 fly down the bay. I've heard the C-2 fly down the bay -- not even close to when the Osprey is in the helicopter mode. It’s night and day difference. It shakes the roof of my house."
What Petriccine is referring to is the CMV-22B aircraft’s tilting rotors which give it the capability to fly both fixed wing, like most planes, and like a helicopter.
When in helicopter mode, it is much louder than in fixed-wing mode.
Residents concerned about the noise and other possible environmental impacts attended an open house Wednesday night at the Coronado Civic Center.
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Pilots, engineers, and Navy personnel were on hand to answer questions about the aircraft and the environmental assessment of it.
A navy spokesperson said like the C-2A plane it's replacing, the new aircraft will fly primarily in fixed-wing mode. The engines sound different but are in fact no louder.
"It does have the tilt-rotor capabilities so it can fly like a helicopter,” spokesperson Ted Brown said. “Most of the operations in that mode will be away from NAS North Island when they are out doing training operations and when they are operating out at the fleet.”
The open house was originally scheduled in January, but because of the government shutdown it was delayed until Wednesday.
The Department of the Navy is taking public comment until February 26.
You've probably already seen the marine and air force versions flying around San Diego. Its mission is to deliver mail, passengers, and cargo, among other things, to aircraft carriers at sea.
The CMV-22B aircraft would not come to North Island until 2020.
