November 9, 2025
Update 11/11/25 – A representative from Archer Aviation reached out to us and provided an overview of their plans. They promised to conduct future meetings in partnership with us.
As leaders of the Hawthorne Quiet Skies residents association we are shocked by Archer Aviation’s claim they have purchased Hawthorne Airport and did not seek any engagement with the residents living next to the airport.
We live in communities neighboring the airport and we’re confused and disappointed by what’s happening. Several of us have faithfully attended the City of Hawthorne’s Airport Communities Network meetings, including one last month, and this was never mentioned once.
We have questions for the Archer team and the City of Hawthorne and we’ve politely asked them for a meeting.
Here are a few questions:
- Why did Archer announce it is acquiring the airport and expanding the runway without any public engagement and what is their plan for involving residents?
- What exactly is Archer proposing when it states it wants Hawthorne Airport to be “a test bed for AI-powered aviation technologies”? Who would want eVTOL AI experiments over their homes? Federally funded research institutions such as Stanford state, “Despite the promise of deploying machine learning (ML) in future aviation systems, today’s ML methods remain poor at generalizing to unseen conditions and lack formal safety guarantees.”
- While Archer claims eVTOLs reduce noise, we’ve learned never trust the aviation industry when it comes to talking about noise. What will Archer do if noise rises in our homes to such a degree residents cannot sleep or enjoy their own home? If you take away a family’s peace within their home, what will you give them?
- The autonomous movement is reducing the number of local jobs as tech experts have warned. Is there an offsetting fund Archer can provide to train local students for jobs that will be available as technology takes other jobs away?
As we are rushing into this eVTOLs transportation revolution, there is significant public and governmental criticism that the FAA’s noise control process is unprepared, outdated, untrustworthy, and ineffective in addressing community concerns. The FAA and aviation industry have obfuscated and delayed for so long they’ve driven public trust into the ground. We’re entering this new era completely unprepared and with no clear pathway to success. It doesn’t have to be this way.
Our members have participated in the City of Hawthorne’s Communities Network roundtable for six years, we’ve helped with noise abatement studies that generated thousands of pages of analysis, we’ve collectively spent thousands of hours talking with the airport and FBO over the last eight years. In that time we’ve made zero progress in noise control and pollution reduction over our homes.
Without any public notice, input, or involvement, in 2014 Hawthorne Airport changed from a small private pilots airport to a commercial airport with bookable commercial flights.
Now, the airport is evolving again without any public input into the first ever eVTOL hub, a “Grand Central Station for air taxis.” The City and Fixed Base Operator who have run our roundtable for six years demonstrated they are unable to collaborate on addressing and reducing noise and public health concerns. It’s time for a new approach.
Hawthorne’s evolution into the nation’s first eVTOL hub is exciting, worth pursuing, and problematic if Archer does not engage with its neighbors, and here’s why:
- Hawthorne Airport is the most constrained airport in the nation with residents next to it on three sides, according to airport consultants Coffman Associates. There are people across the street to the north and west sides, and a neighborhood to the east within two blocks. Because of how close we live, it is one of the most challenging airports in the nation when it comes to noise.
- The City does not have a strong track record of planning and community relations. In the 1980s they considered buying homes across the street to the north to prepare for future airport growth but pulled back. In the 2010s, the city had an expansive new neighborhood built two blocks east of the airport. Then in 2014, the city converted the airport to a commercial service with the addition of Surf Air and Advanced Air. The city’s poor planning has gotten us into the land use mess we are in today.
- The city’s 2021 noise report states there are 142 homes within Hawthorne Airport’s 65-70 db Community Noise Equivalent Level (CNEL) and 21 homes in the 70-75 CNEL. They estimate 483 people are impacted by unhealthy levels of noise. Despite having this information for four years, the City has done nothing to notify those residents, offer assistance, or take steps to install noise abatement products according to the residents who live there.
- The FAA’s continued reliance on the outdated 65 DNL threshold is untenable for evaluating new aircraft types such as eVTOLs. The agency’s own 2021 Neighborhood Environmental Survey (NES) confirmed that significant community annoyance occurs well below 65 DNL, yet the FAA has deferred updating its standards by placing the Noise Policy Review in a policy holding pattern pending recommendations from the still-unformed Aviation Noise Advisory Committee (ANAC). This delay does not absolve either the FAA or project sponsors—including airports proposing to introduce eVTOL operations—of their joint responsibility under NEPA to base environmental analyses on the best available scientific information. Both the FAA and airports must ensure that their reviews reflect the NES findings and current community response data rather than perpetuate a threshold the FAA itself has deemed inaccurate.
We think the revolution in autonomous air transportation is exciting and we support the California innovators working towards a better quality of life for all. But that’s the key – all of us need to participate in this process as respected, trusting, and collaborative partners.
Archer unfortunately inherits a challenging land use situation at Hawthorne Airport with dense residential neighborhoods needing urgent help.
Things cannot continue as they were. We’re open to starting a new relationship with Archer and we propose a new Hawthorne Airport noise and safety working group that is not led by the City of Hawthorne and Advanced Air. The new group would be the first of its kind in the nation, with industry and neighbors working together to plot a course to success for the airport’s users and people who live here.
Let’s revolutionize airport-neighborhood relations as we revolutionize air transportation. Your call Archer, we live here so you know where to find us.
Hawthorne Quiet Skies leadership contacts
Contact us: https://hawthornequietskies.com/contact
- Alec Mackie, West Athens
- Bob Hawks, Wiseburn
- Denise Bartasavich, Del Aire
- Jim Matthews, Hollyglen
- Lynda Anderson, West Athens
- Maria Flores Acosta, Wiseburn
- Roxanne Ferebee, Redondo Beach
Hawthorne Quiet Skies 