In terms of sheer, ear-splitting decibel output is there a louder jet fighter than the F-18? Probably, although I can't recall seeing/hearing one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_pX_tbLXQ8

Bill, you may be right.

I have seen the Blue Angels a few times, with the last time in Tuscaloosa Alabama. That airport is very small and the seating areas are really close to the runway. I mean close!

The difference in seeing them at Pensacola or Lake Washington (in Seattle) versus in Tuscaloosa was amazing. I have never heard anything so loud as those F-18s and also the F-22 that was there.

When they went vertical on burner we were looking right up the tailpipes. It was awesome, especially when the F-22 that was there was basically hanging there vertically on burner right above the runway.

Anything old is louder. Low bypass/no bypass clunkers. IE F104/F4/B52 before upgrades.

Suspect Tu-95 is much louder than any turbojet.

quote:

Originally posted by DOPPELGANGSTER:
Anything old is louder. Low bypass/no bypass clunkers. IE F104/F4/B52 before upgrades.

Suspect Tu-95 is much louder than any turbojet.

Absolutely. The Thunderbirds F-4 show was an impressive display of precision flying and thunder. An F-106 in full AB was awfully loud as well. As for modern jets, I think F-15s are louder than F-18s.

EA-6B PROWLER (RECENTLY RETIRED) Essentially an F-4 phantom motor without a burner can.

My business is on the old air base in New Iberia. There is a company that paints Dreamliners in a facility near the runway. We never hear the airliners take off or land.

When F-18s stop for fuel they leave no doubt they are around. Rattle the windows in my office every time. Love to watch the planes take off and land.

This is the loudest I have heard:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8gpQSgaG6c

Yep, B-1 is a loud as a four ship of F-16s. To me, the F-15, F-16, and F-18 have an uncomfortable high pitched sound. They all are turbofans vs the older turbojet style of the F-4, F-106, etc.

Might have something to do with air mass and velocity eh? A single J79 produces say 17,000 lb thrust with AB? An F15 produces 3.5 times that? Etc. Could also be that TF engines can produce higher relative power levels at lower AS than a TJ. TJ needs speed to make speed.

Just my backwoods Bubbafied opinion of course, your mileage may vary.

Mike, you are fortunate to work where you can see/hear military aircraft on a regular basis. All we have here where I live is National Guard helicopter traffic. We lived near Fort Lewis and McChord AFB in the '60s, and I sure got spoiled with every sort of hardware the Army and Air Force had in those days. I sure miss it.

quote:

Originally posted by Bill/Oregon:
In terms of sheer, ear-splitting decibel output is there a louder jet fighter than the F-18? Probably, although I can't recall seeing/hearing one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_pX_tbLXQ8

Yes the good old CF-18 love the sound of them taking off in the tight Kootenay River valley in Castlegar .
FYI there's some very large 400" bull elk in those hills above there airport .

I spent about three years working the flight deck on the E-Prise in the early 80's, and saw my first F/A-18's when they were doing carrier trials just before I got out. After spending so much time around Tomcats and the like, I remember they struck me as being somewhat "plastic" and Cessna 150-like in comparison. When you're twenty feet away from an F-14 on the cat at zone five A/B, the noise is so intense that it rattles your lungs to the point you can't breathe. That said, the all time king of noise is without question the EA-6B "Queer". A high pitched scream that can best be described as having an ice pick driven through your head (I used to hate them damn things! ).

Porosonik.

I'll find the video, but I recall the EA=6 as having sucked up more than one flight deck crew into its intake.

Little taste of that EA-6B whine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_Oc-hGcrZQ

The Prowler is the loudest airplane in the world. Only the Space Shuttles are louder and they are rockets.

The F-18 is 180 decibels. I know this because I have used a noise doscitmeter to measure it for my job.

A prowler is so loud that when you are on the cats next to one you have to open your mouth to keep from losing teeth when they rattle together. At least I do. An F-18 is not that loud.

quote:

EA-6B PROWLER (RECENTLY RETIRED) Essentially an F-4 phantom motor without a burner can.

And as BWW says, you open your mouth to relieve the noise pressure. The EA-6B would rattle your brain. Not a pleasant job to be the JBD (Jet Blast Deflector) operator guy right in the "sweet spot" directly behind the engines. All you want to do is get away from it. Some of our guys lost fillings. The F/A-18 was a close second, but we didn't have Super Hornets or F-35's when I was in.

F-4's were awesome. Big, orange, greasy flame out the back. Your whole body shook as if it were a Saturn V on the runway.