Noisy Monday at Paine Field was due to refueling Navy jets

EVERETT — Jets diverted to Paine Field from Naval Air Station Whidbey Island created unusually loud noise that was heard around the area on Monday afternoon and evening.

The noise came from five EA-18G Growlers. The jets were diverted from Whidbey after a plane blew a tire on the air station’s runway, according to Marty Wray, operations specialist at Paine Field.

The runway at Whidbey was closed while crews dealt with the plane with the flat tire, and the Growlers needed to refuel, so they landed at Paine Field, the nearest location with the resources they needed, Wray said.

Kathy Koss of Everett first heard the noise in the afternoon while she was at work at Everett Community College.

“They were extremely loud,” she said. “I’ve never heard anything like that coming out of the sky around here.”

Koss said she was pleased to have an answer to what caused the loud noises. She heard them again later in the evening from her home in the Viewridge neighborhood, not far from Paine Field, and was worried it was going to become a common occurrence.

“I am glad to hear it was a one-off thing,” she said.

Paine Field used to be a U.S. Air Force base for fighter jets, but that was decades ago.

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