Fighter-Jet Facts

Fighter jets are of special interest due to the presence of the 115th Fighter Wing of the Wisconsin Air National Guard in Madison. This page provides facts about fighter jet noise from the MSNSound data.

Most fighter-jet noise in the Madison area is from 115th Fighter Wing operations

The local 115th Fighter Wing normally conducts training exercises Monday through Thursday in waves of 2 to 10 aircraft that launch in close succession:

• First wave: Departing mid-morning
• Second wave: Departing early afternoon
• Flight duration: About 90 minutes
• Training area: North and west of Madison
• Night training: Occasionally, departing 5-7 PM

115th Fighter Wing Aircraft Transition Timeline:

• 1990s - October 2022: F-16C fighter aircraft
• May 2023 - Present: F-35A fighter jets

Visiting fighter jets from other areas account for roughly 10% of fighter-jet operations in the area.

Minutes of Fighter-Jet Noise per Week (2025)

Fighter jets are far louder than any other aircraft

Noise from fighter jets regularly peaks at 100+ decibels for monitoring locations in the flight path. In contrast, noise from other aircraft generally peaks in the range of 70 to 80 decibels and rarely exceeds 90 decibels.

(Statistics are for the monitoring location with the highest peak decibel reading for each aircraft event)

Decibels don't tell the full story. Studies show that perceived loudness doubles with each 10-decibel increase in noise level. Measured this way, peak noise from departing fighter jets averages more than 25 times the everyday background city noise at the loudest locations and exceeds 50 times background levels about 5 percent of the time. In contrast, peak noise from other aircraft rarely exceeded 10 times background levels even at the loudest locations.

(Statistics are for the monitoring location with the highest peak decibel reading for each aircraft event)

Fighter jets are not the dominant source of aircraft noise in the area, but they punch well above their weight

Total noise over time combines the frequency, duration and loudness of many noise events. MSNSound measures this on a second-by-second basis across all aircraft noise events to get the total noise across the network by aircraft type. In 2025, fighters made up only 18% of the total aircraft that registered noise events but contributed 28% of the total noise. A single fighter jet results in about the same amount of noise as 4 airliners, but there are far more airliners than fighters.

Fighter jet noise in Madison has doubled since F-35s arrived

Most monitoring locations show a roughly twofold increase in total fighter jet noise for 2025 compared to 2021 and 2022. This is a combination of about 50% more fighter jet operations and the F-35s being about 30% louder than the F-16s.

(Based on observed fighter-jet noise events on MSNSound)

The 115th appears to be making a good effort to follow established noise abatement procedures

Key military noise abatement directives for the airport are:

• Depart to (and arrive from) the north whenever possible
• When departing to the south, immediately turn to the southeast to avoid flying over downtown Madison
• Avoid low-altitude military approaches

Departures:

• Fighter jets: 68% north departures in 2025 (vs 48% of airliners)
• Notable: fighter jets sometimes depart north despite winds/traffic favoring south departures
• Almost all south departures turn to the southeast (exceptions are likely itinerant aircraft)

Arrivals:

• 60% of arrivals are military-type "overhead" circling approaches (quieter)
• Noisier straight-in approaches (33%) mainly used in poor weather

Other:

• Interval departures (15-30 seconds apart) reduces noise by about one third compared to individual departures
• Formation arrivals also reduce noise
• No observed touch-and-go landing practice in Madison

Fighter-Jet Flight Track Explorer

Fighter-jet noise is loudest directly underneath the flight path. The Flight Track Explorer shows where they fly based on partial tracks from ADS-B Exchange.

Data Source: ADS-B Exchange