Carrying neon signs and whistles, neighbors drummed up noise outside several flight schools at Long Beach Airport, protesting the noise they say these schools' planes create in their neighborhoods each day.
“Probably 500 a day! Twenty-five thousand to 35,000 a month,” said Lisa Dunn, who has recorded flight school planes flying as early as 6 a.m. and as late as 11:45 p.m.
“When I moved here 30 years ago, we maybe got 10 an hour, manageable,” said John Masquero, who along with Dunn has organized neighbors to email city leaders, attend council meetings demanding a halt to new flight schools and lease renewals at the airport.
In October of 2023, the city of Long Beach put out a comprehensive report with seven recommendations in March.
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The main recommendation was to ask flight schools to voluntarily work to change the flight paths, avoid flying over neighborhoods when they can and avoid flying at night.
The Long Beach Airport Association president concedes flights have surged since the pandemic as schools are inundated with more student pilots and the need to fill the gap of pilots in the industry.
“There has been improvement,” said Curtis Castagna, Long Beach Airport Association president. “There’s been an effort by the schools to implement educational awareness within the student pilot and the instructor’s understanding of the sensitive areas of Long Beach.”
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“We care about mitigating the noise effects of our airplanes on communities around airports,” said Matt Liknaitzky, co-owner of Sling Pilot Academy.
He said his company is attending monthly meetings with the airport to help lessen the noise problems.
They are also going a step further, outfitting planes with exhaust silencers and custom propellers to make them quieter.
Liknaitzky wants to make neighborhoods happy and ensure pilots are trained for the essential work they must do.
“Aviation is a huge part of our civilization and flight instruction and flight training is critical to the continuation of aviation,” said Liknaitzky.
