Blue Angels Noise Level Is Somewhere Between Annoying and Buzz Saw -- Are You Deaf Yet?

By Lauren Smiley Fri., Oct. 7 2011 at 4:45 PM

Categories: Health

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The view from my desk.

Our view here at the SF Weekly office usually offers a calming view of Alcatraz, sailboats cutting through the surf, and the Yang Ming cargo ship making its way into the bay each afternoon. Coworkers have mentioned the dramatic view could be mistaken for a giant screensaver.

But this week, our location means we are going deaf.

Our interviews have been interrupted by VROOOOM-swoosh-ROOOOAR! of the Blue Angels flying over the bay like a flock of seagulls from hell. The building tried to buy us off with an ice cream social up on the roof, to no avail. We are getting irritable. A usually stoic colleague just stood up and announced, "This is making me hate America!"

Someone in sales yelled "So distracting!" Staff Writer Joe Eskenazi is making jokes about shitting on the floor in fear.

A Google search has yielded that Blue Angels can reach up to 150 decibels, backed up by a handy decibel chart that says 150 decibels is the volume of a turbo jet. It is also labeled as "deafening."

Hatred of the Blue Angels unites several San Franciscan constituencies. Well, at least progressives, Yelpers, and Chronicle moms, which we're guessing is about half the city. We've read that the Blue Angels' purpose is to attract recruits to the Navy and Marines. But our calls to the recruitment stations have just rung and rung with no answer this afternoon. So either the recruiters have also been rendered deaf and cannot hear the phone, or they are out on the Embarcadero with their pitches to serve Uncle Sam falling on deaf ears -- literally.

Then there's another group that doesn't want to hear complaints this week. Fleet Week itself. A call to its main number yields the following voice mail: "If you're calling with a concern about the noise, please leave a message at the end of this recording." We're guessing that mailbox is cleared with an swift press of the "delete" button at the end of the day.

Maybe we're being too cynical. Perhaps someone will listen -- if they can still hear.

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