This house is loud . . . or is it?

AVIANO, ITALY

08.04.2016

Story by Cory Bush 

31st Fighter Wing

There’s one house at Aviano Air Base that’s louder than any other, but no one standing outside its walls would ever know.



This house is known as the hush house.



It’s an enclosed structure made of noise suppressing material that muffles the sounds produced by turbine engines. After an F-16 Fighting Falcon engine has undergone maintenance and has been reinstalled, it’s sent to the 31st Maintenance Squadron hush house to undergo a series of diagnostic tests and inspections prior to taking flight once again.



“The hush house is used throughout the day, but is also extremely handy during nighttime operations,” said Tech. Sgt. Aaron Ainsworth, 31st MXS aerospace propulsion section chief. “Due to local quiet-hour policies, the hush house facility is used to dampen the noise and prevent it from being heard by the local community after 10 p.m.”



According to Ainsworth, the facility is made of fibrous insulation and metal mesh that muffles the sound. It’s also equipped with a special aircraft restraint bar that holds a jet in place at full power when testing.



“There are wide variety of tests that crew chiefs can do while in the hush house,” said Staff Sgt. Stephen Babayco, 31st MXS aerospace propulsion craftsman. “In order to test an aircraft’s engine above 85 percent it must be restrained. This facility has the tools required for engines to run at full afterburner to ensure they work properly during a mission or training sortie.”



As the only 24-hour high powered engine run facility at Aviano, the 31st MXS aerospace propulsion Airmen work around-the-clock to make certain the hush house is operating and mission ready for the 31st Fighter Wing’s jets to fly when called upon.

• Date Taken: 08.04.2016
• Date Posted: 08.10.2016 07:48
• Story ID: 206645
• Location: AVIANO, IT