Jet scream!

By Shaun Inguanzo
A MILITARY-grade fighter jet screaming across Noble Park skies in excess of 900km/h has prompted calls for Sandown Raceway to give neighbouring residents prior warning of noisy spectacles.
A Royal Australian Air Force F/A-18 Hornet fighter jet stormed across the skies to impress the raceway crowd eagerly awaiting the start of the Sandown 500 V8 Supercars race on Sunday.
But one Greater Dandenong councillor said she received up to 12 phone calls from angry and concerned residents living near Sandown Raceway after the strike fighter’s flyover.
Star also received complaints, including one from Kelvinside Road resident Joe Gordon, 74, who described the jet’s flyover as the loudest sound he had heard.
An Australian Defence Force spokeswoman told Star that the Hornet was flying about 160 metres above Noble Park and Sandown reaching speeds of up to Mach 0.93, which translates into a speed in excess of 900km/h.
The spokeswoman said that at no stage did the jet break the sound barrier.
Mr Gordon said that just after midday on Sunday he heard a cracking “boom” louder than anything he had ever heard before.
“A supersonic plane came flying over our house and I ran out because it was so noisy I thought it was coming through the front window,” he told Star.
“I thought we were gone, that it was going to take the house. All of a sudden it was like a hurricane had come up and hit you.”
He called for organisers to scrap the flyover from next year’s race meet for the peace of mind of residents.
Mr Gordon said residents were not strangers to loud noises coming from the many motor sport events held at Sandown. But he said the fighter jet was intolerable.
“I don’t want to hear that again, or my wife and I won’t live here if it continues,” he said.
Springvale North Ward councillor Alan Gordon said the council would speak with the Melbourne Racing Club to ensure it maintained open and effective communication with its neighbouring residents.
“(The FA18 Hornet) was unexpected and I am disappointed that Sandown didn’t alert people about it,” he said.
Keysborough Ward councillor Roz Blades, who said she received 12 phonecalls from angry and concerned residents after the flyover, said it was ludicrous that a fighter jet was allowed to fly over Noble Park and Sandown without residents receiving any notification.
“If you want to have fireworks in Greater Dandenong then you have to let everyone know within certain radius so their dogs don’t get frightened and their cats don’t run away,” Cr Blades said.
“Yet apparently you can fly an F/A-18 Hornet over a residential area on a Sunday and not have to tell someone.
“That’s irresponsible, and I’m astonished.”
Sandown Racecourse manager Wade Calderwood said he was aware residents had been upset by the F/A-18 Hornet flyover.
Asked whether the jet would return for next year’s Sandown 500, he said: “The Melbourne Racing Club takes over motor racing at Sandown from 1 October. We will ensure that if there are any aircraft or similar type of entertainment that we pre-communicate that to residents.”
Mr Calderwood said the MRC website, www.melbourneracingclub.net.au, would be the main point of communication.