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The Torrance City Council in California banned touch-and-go landings at the Zamperini Field Airport (TOA) in a unanimous 5-0 vote on Oct. 17. The community spoke out against the airport, claiming it has become overtaken by flight schools that brought increased noise and pollution. While the community has banded together to reduce noise from airport operations with the ban, only the FAA has full legal authority over the U.S. airspace and members of the aviation industry are questioning the legality of the decision.
Flight activity at the Torrance airport has increased by over 55 percent in the last two years compared with the annual average from 2010-2020 and 2023 is on pace to outdo 2022, according to Take Back Torrance Airport. The Coalition for Torrance Airport Reform is a group of concerned citizens trying to restore the once-harmonic balance between the airport and neighboring communities. The group stresses that there is no attempt to shut down the airport, rather addressing issues in recent years as a result of increased traffic and finding solutions to the pressing issues.
The citizens group is comprised of roughly 1,000 locals who signed a petition in 2022, demanding the Council take action on the pollution, safety and noise issues created by the current airport operations. COTAR's objectives include ending flight training over residential areas, reducing airport operations to the 2010-2022 averages, improving the enforcement of noise violations, eliminating lead fuel from the airport and improving management.
"Torrance Municipal Airport is a small general aviation airport granted to the City of Torrance by our federal government," COTAR said. "It was never meant to be used as a large scale, regional pilot training center and flight schools base. The City is Owner and Landlord of the airport with proprietary rights over use of its land."
The coalition argues that the airport has been overtaken by flight schools, increasing noise and pollution. The group argues that the flight patterns to the city-owned airport have changed and with the change, the city stopped enforcing a 70-year-old law making early turns over residential areas a noise violation. Most of this increase in traffic comes from the flight schools doing touch-and-go training loops over the residential areas, reportedly conflicting with helicopter arrival and departure routes.
The group gave a letter to the City Council during a July 25 meeting, announcing its intent and providing the petition demanding the Council take action. These comments included landing fees for transient aircraft and local flight schools/fleets with more than three aircraft, drafting a letter of agreement between the city and local flight schools, potential noise study, phasing out leaded gas, eliminating touch and go landings and a moratorium on adding new flight schools at the airport. The letter included additional actions to immediately address the noise like fines and updating the airport master plan. During the meeting, the city voted to modify the hours of touch and goes to only Monday-Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and to not allow touch and goes on city-observed holidays.Photo of airport from City of Torrance Government
By September, the City Council was reconsidering the decision to not ban touch-and-go landings. On Sept. 14 the AOPA released a concerned response, questioning the legal authority of the City Council. The AOPA sent a letter to the council, including representatives from groups like the NBAA, GAMA and NATA. The Council's actions are in violation of federal law, as Title 49 of the U.S. Code grants the FAA the exclusive sovereignty of the U.S. airspace.
"Unless the City can demonstrate that there is an exemption that would allow the City to regulate aircraft in flight, it cannot take actions that are calculated to regulate such aircraft for the purpose of limiting noise within U.S. airspace," the letter said.
The agency encouraged the city to suspend any decision-making until the FAA can verify the legal compliance of the ban. The AOPA has worked with the city, flight schools and homeowners associations on solutions to address the increase in noise. With the work, flight schools voluntarily limited and halted overflights of the south pattern at the field with flight school aircraft and adjusted schedules to space out training flights.
Despite the urging from the AOPA to wait for FAA verification on the decision, the City Council voted to ban touch-and-go landings on the North and South runways at the Oct. 17 meeting. According to Trending in Torrance, as of Oct. 27, the Council has plans to implement landing fees in January 2024. A noise study began on Sept. 18 and will take roughly four months to complete, which will be presented to the City Council for further direction. Now, staff is researching the possibility of phasing out leaded gas within 12 months, including options for providers to sell unleaded gas approved by the FAA. Airport staff are discussing voluntary letters of agreement between the flight schools and the City of Torrance. The City and FAA are also working together to host a community webinar in early 2024.RELATED STORIES:South Carolina airport bans ultralight aircraft after 2 crashesNaples Airport bans fuel as noise complaints increaseEast Hampton Airport seeks compromise after long battle with community
With air traffic on the rise across the country following the pandemic, some communities are fighting back. In October the town council banned ultralights at the Holly Hill Airport (5J5) in South Carolina after two aircraft incidents in a year and a half. Some airports, like the Naples Airport, have a fuel ban during certain hours to restrict airport traffic. The East Hampton Town Airport (JPX) has been the site of an ongoing battle between locals and pilots. The town was fighting for control over the airport to cut down on traffic and noise, with the Board of Supervisors attempting to close the airport in May 2022 and reopen it as a private facility days later, only to result in a lawsuit over the plan.
A New York State Supreme Court Justice held the town in civil contempt for violating a temporary restraining order that directed the town against converting the airport and imposing flight restrictions. The judge found that the town had acted beyond its legal abilities and violated New York environmental law, which requires an environmental impact study before reopening. The imposed curfew restrictions were also deemed illegal for failing to comply with the procedural requirements for noise and access restrictions. The town was ordered to pay major fines and pull back on its attempted restrictions.