This is a photo I took of the Sunset Bridge, with a jet digitally added over it 
So it’s not an actual shot of one of those planes, if you were wondering. 
I’ll admit it: I used to be one of those angry residents of Punggol who felt like shaking a fist in the general direction of the sky when yet another fighter plane flew past with those loud booming noises. Then I decided that I couldn’t do anything about the situation (they would fly whenever they wanted / had to). So I changed what I could, which was my reaction to their flying past. I went on to take an ‘eye break’ from the computer screen each time a plane flew past, ‘cos sometimes I wouldn’t be able to hear what the folks are saying in the Youtube video I’m watching anyway as their voices are drowned out by the planes. When I took the planes’ flying past as state-sponsored reminders to take eye breaks from digital screens, I began to feel more at ease, and less annoyed by the frequent flights.
Some residents in Punggol are (still) very upset about the many planes flying past in a day while others are less upset because (I’m assuming) they are hard of hearing or they know that, hey, due to space constraints, those guys have no choice but to fly over Punggol and avoid passenger air traffic around Changi and also not enter Malaysia’s airspace up north.
But if you were to ask me to hazard a guess as to how many planes fly past Punggol in a day, my wild guesstimate would be 5? So today, since I’m staying home, I decided to record the number of planes I hear flying past and the time I heard them go past. *I only recorded those which were really loud. Those that sounded like a low rumble far away went unrecorded. And, of course, I may have missed some while engrossed in reading a good book. (Currently reading ‘Memoirs Of A DJ’ by Vernetta Lopez) 
And here are the results:
The +1 meant there was another plane following just behind the first one. I don’t actually look out the window and try to see where they are. I simply record the time at which I hear them, and the number of planes I hear fly past.
From 8.34am to just after 5pm when I stopped recording, the count stands at 23 (planes). *Of course, it could be just a handful of planes which repeatedly fly over Punggol throughout the day, instead of 23 individual planes. I have no way of verifying each plane that flies past, so let’s just take it as that: I heard the planes go by 23 times.
I began recording after 8.30am ‘cos I wasn’t awake before that and cannot vouch for the number of planes that flew past while I was in slumberland.
I found an interesting general pattern though:
The loud planes flew only during certain hours
Between 8am and 9am, and 12 noon to just before 2pm, they were rather active. BUT 9am to 12noon was a nice 3-hour reprieve. So was 2pm to 5pm!
This actually means you can plan noise-sensitive activities outside of these (fly) timings. So quiet time between 9am and 10am is a very good idea.
It also means that trying to take a nap at 12 noon is probably not the wisest idea. (But you can go pay someone to soundproof your home, I guess, if you need your rest at that hour regularly, such as if you do shift work and that’s your ‘bedtime’.)
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People Who’ve Written In To The Straits Times Forum About This Issue This Month:
(1) Aug 19: ‘Planes flying too low in Punggol‘
(2) Aug 22: ‘Residents must understand air force’s constraints‘
** Also, here is Mindef’s response (some years’ ago) regarding the aircraft noise – might be worth a read: Is RSAF doing anything about aircraft noise over certain parts of Singapore?
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At the end of the day, I think residents in Punggol just encounter too much noise in their ‘hood. There’s lots of construction work going on (so many new flats to be built), so many heavy vehicles zooming to and from the construction sites (even late in the evening), the density of buildings (I can hear people conversing at the drop-off point on the ground floor from my mid-level flat), and if you have a baby at home, I guess the noise problem is exacerbated: plane flies past, baby cries, you feel like crying too (I guess).
There are a couple of solutions for people who can’t move out because they bought a BTO flat and thus are ‘stuck’ for 5 years: you can go ahead and soundproof your place (maybe the baby’s room?) or use some earplugs (I like 3M’s) or noise-cancelling headphones and listen to calm, soothing music all day.
Just don’t get all upset and get your blood pressure up. Otherwise, after diabetes, high blood pressure will be the next topic we hear about at next year’s National Day Rally.
