A Good Summary of the Debates Over Air Taxi Safety, Noise, and AI Testing
“The stakes are high for Los Angeles. If Archer can navigate regulatory hurdles, refine AI safety protocols, and implement effective noise mitigation, Hawthorne could become a model for urban air mobility hubs worldwide. If not, it risks becoming a flashpoint…
12 Voluntary Steps Local Airports Have Taken to Control Noise, But Hawthorne Didn’t
Airports across the LA Basin implemented dozens of noise control programs that do not require FAA approval. The Hawthorne City Council created the Hawthorne Airport Community Roundtable to “find ways to reduce and mitigate noise impacts.” That was seven years…
Dec 9th City of Hawthorne Public Hearing During City Council Meeting
Hawthorne residents are welcome to file a speaker card at the start of the Dec 9th Hawthorne City Council meeting to talk about the Final Mitigated Negative Declaration for the Hawthorne Airport Hangars Project. The project appears to be the…
Dec. 11th Zoom Meeting: Introducing Archer Aviation to the Surrounding Communities
Purpose: Meet the new managers of Hawthorne Airport. Archer is an innovative, new air taxi coming to Los Angeles. Hosted by: Paulette C. Francis Councilmember City of GardenaFeatured speaker: George Kivork, Archer AviationOrganized by: Hawthorne Quiet Skies Register >
Too Low, Too Loud, Too Much Pollution: Residents Near Hawthorne Airport Need Help
Residents surrounding Hawthorne Airport deserve better. After eight years of effort working with the City of Hawthorne and Hawthorne Airport LLC on noise, nighttime operations, and pollution concerns, the situation is only getting worse. Noise complaints are widespread across the…
How Quiet Are They? 2024 Test Videos Measure Sound from Archer and Joby’s Air Taxis
The recording will start at the test flight for Archer’s Midnight, their latest model. YouTuber “EVTOL Research” recorded test flights along with a decibel meter to take a look at the noise generated by eVTOL air taxis. Please note: these…
7 Principles of Urban Air Mobility by the World Economic Forum
Developed by the World Economic Forum and endorsed by the City of LA’s Department of Transportation. “Noise disturbances should be measured and mitigated by a community first approach to vehicle design, infrastructure siting and route planning. Community noise acceptance metrics…
Elon Musk Shares His View on Air Taxi Noise and Safety
They’re “like a giant beehive of noisy bees.” This is Musk in 2022, so maybe the technology and noise control have greatly improved. https://youtube.com/shorts/j8E9CKmt8ZU?si=wRBXFe1lWq_M2RFQ
City of Hawthorne Clarifies Airport Change is a Lease Not a Purchase
From the City of Hawthorne… HAWTHORNE, Calif., November 12, 2025 – The City of Hawthorne proudly announces a major step forward in advancing economic development and transportation innovation through a new partnership at the Hawthorne Municipal Airport. The City Council is…
Hawthorne could be one of the first eIPP sites
From Flying magazine…. “Adam Goldstein said Archer is “hopeful” that Hawthorne will be selected for the eVTOL Integration Pilot Program (eIPP)—a three-year initiative to study the operational potential and safety of electric aircraft. He predicted eIPP flights would begin next…
Statement from Hawthorne Quiet Skies about Archer Aviation
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…
Archer Aviation Acquires Hawthorne Airport
Archer CEO Adam Goldstein’s comments on Hawthorne Airport X post: “Hawthorne Airport is already a profitable enterprise. For Archer, it will become even more: the blueprint for a new class of urban aviation hubs around the world. We envision Hawthorne…
Skyryse expands Southern California campus with new facility at Hawthorne Airport
The new Hawthorne facility represents a significant milestone in Skyryse’s journey toward the certification of Skyryse One™, the company’s flagship aircraft. This site will serve as Skyryse’s Part 145 Installation and Repair Center, playing a crucial role in the ongoing…
Advanced Air Announces Hangers Available for Lease
From Advanced Air… Advanced Air, LLC Unveils Final Phase of Hangar Development Plans at Jet Center LA at Hawthorne Municipal Airport (KHHR) Advanced Air, LLC is thrilled to announce the final phase of hangar development at Jet Center Los Angeles…
New FAA Reauthorization Bill Would Prohibit Removing 100LL From Airports
From AV Web… “George Braly of General Aviation Modifications Inc., the only U.S. company with an FAA-approved 100-octane fuel, said the bill will “almost certainly stop dead” early efforts to develop an unleaded market in California and other parts of…
Join Our Next Virtual Meeting on July 22 – Share Your Opinion of Hawthorne Airport Noise and Pollution
Neighborhood Virtual Meeting by Hawthorne Quiet Skies Saturday, July229:30 – 10:30 a.m. Register free https://bit.ly/2023-airport-noise Featuring neighbors from Hawthorne, Gardena, West Athens, Redondo Beach and more discussing on-going noise and pollution from the Hawthorne Airport. Plus, we’ll suggest ways you can provide your input to the FAA.
As private jet traffic increases at Van Nuys Airport, locals fume
“I feel like we’re living in a war zone, they come in so incessantly. Coming in, taking off, coming in, taking off. It’s out of control,” says Gutierrez-Hedges. The school is beneath the flight path from Van Nuys Airport, one of…
FAA Seeks Input On Why Air Traffic Annoys Neighbors
From Chicago’s Journal & Topics “The old standard for tracking noise impacts was the Schultz Curve, developed 40 years ago, which tends to consider the irritations from airport noise rise slowly in a shallow curve. It predicted that at 50…
NASA’s Advanced Air Mobility Mission Researches Noise
” NASA’s Advanced Air Mobility mission is developing design tools that manufacturers can use to reduce noise impacts. The Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) project and Revolutionary Vertical Lift Technology project work together to conduct testing with industry partners. The data NASA collects and analyzes from these…
Airport Noise and Its Discontents
By Bloomberg… “Airport noise is a global issue, though the Netherlands may be a special case given that it’s one of the world’s most densely populated countries. Neighbors of Schiphol have recently found that their years of complaints finally paid…
Living Near an Airport Affects Your Sleep, New Study Shows
From CNET ” While it may be obvious to the people it affects most, research now confirms that living next to an airport can seriously curtail how much sleep you get. Researchers at the Boston University School of Public Health…
Guest Commentary: Now is your time to comment as FAA evaluates jet noise standards and mitigation
“Dispersing jet noise and particle emissions is an acknowledged antidote to concentration and is defined as “the process of introducing track variability by changing aircraft lateral position enough to spread out repetitive and intrusive noise events experienced by people living…
Quiet skies: Universities to research way to reduce aviation noise
FAA PRESS RELEASE Highlights… Noise and Advance Air Mobility Aircraft, Drones and Rotorcraft Develop noise models for different types of Advanced Air Mobility vehicles:$315,000 to Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Develop acoustic modeling for Urban Air Mobility vehicles with low noise…
City Council Votes To Close Santa Monica Airport
From Flying magazine… “The airport’s closure is set to begin by 2028.”
‘My kids are being poisoned’: How aviators escaped America’s war on lead
By Politico… “Lead was removed from gasoline decades ago. So why is aviation fuel still laced with the metal — a neurotoxin tied to developmental problems in children? …. Today, toddlers in East San Jose have concentrations of lead in…
Attorney General Bonta Leads Multistate Comment Letter Supporting EPA Finding on Leaded Aviation Gas
By the State Attorney General’s Office Wednesday, January 18, 2023 Contact: (916) 210-6000, agpressoffice@doj.ca.gov OAKLAND – California Attorney General Rob Bonta, leading a multistate coalition of 12 attorneys general, today submitted a comment letter to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) supporting its proposed finding…
EPA knows what it must do: End the use of leaded aviation fuels
From Seattle Times op-ed… By Nathan DonleySpecial to The Times “Even small amounts of lead pollution can cause nervous system damage, reduced intelligence, behavioral changes and developmental harms that are often irreversible, especially in children. Given those well-documented risks, the…
EPA Releases Proposed Finding on Leaded AvGas
From Flying magazine… “The aviation community was expecting the announcement and points to progress on unleaded fuel in the market. On Friday, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released its proposed finding on leaded aviation fuel, triggering a response from the…
Getting the lead out — at long last
“The performance-enhancing additive prevents engine knock that can lead to sudden engine failure. But its toxicity has been known since the 1920s, when scientists and health experts warned the federal government in public hearings of the dangers of using it in gasoline…
Lead spews from some Southern California airports; cleaner fuel is coming
“She discovered lots of not great news, with studies showing higher instances of everything from asthma to heart disease to preterm births for those who live and work near airports. But one fact she found stopped her in her tracks. Shepler learned…
LA residents sue FAA over changed flight paths out of Burbank and Van Nuys airports
“We live in a home that we worked our entire lives for, and one day we woke up and were in a war zone in terms of the noise and the pollution and the chaos,” said Save Our Skies LA…
FAA study finds that most Americans are ‘highly annoyed’ by aircraft noise
From Fox news… “In a report published last month, the Neighborhood Environmental Survey (NES), conducted by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), found that nearly two-thirds of people polled were “highly annoyed” by aviation noise — even more than road traffic or noise from…
Leaded gas was phased out 25 years ago. Why are these planes still using toxic fuel?
“That’s because Reid-Hillview is one of 13,000 so-called general aviation airports, from which leaded-fuel piston-engine aircraft fly. While leaded gasoline was fully phased out in 1996 with the passage of the Clean Air Act, it still fuels a fleet of 170,000 piston-engine…
Malibu Files Petition With FAA To Reduce Aircraft Noise And Emissions
From Patch Malibu “The city of Malibu filed a petition with the Federal Aviation Administration to get cleaner and quieter skies in the city.” https://patch.com/california/malibu/malibu-files-petition-faa-reduce-aircraft-noise-emissions
FAA study finds noise from airplanes, helicopters far more annoying than other sources
From The Washington Post… “The first Federal Aviation Administration noise survey in nearly 30 years found more people are bothered by aircraft noise than before.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/airplane-noise-study/2021/03/26/533a0f5e-8c0e-11eb-a6bd-0eb91c03305a_story.html
LA Sues FAA Over Plane Noise at Hollywood Burbank Airport
“The city of Los Angeles sued the Federal Aviation Administration on Thursday over a shift in flight patterns for planes departing Hollywood Burbank Airport that has dramatically increased noise levels for residents and businesses.”
Another New Airline Arrives at Hawthorne – FLOAT
Conducting practice flights right now, FLOAT’s commercial airline service says it will start in January 2020. Another commercial airline is landing at Hawthorne on a regular basis – FLOAT Fly Over All the Traffic. The big planes are not as…
Living Near the Airport Means You’ll Probably Wake up More in the Middle of the Night
“Noise is the silent killer in the sense that it’s really a cumulative effect,” says Mathias Basner, an associate professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. “If you expose yourself to high levels of noise, that won’t kill you.…
Hollywood Burbank Airport noise task force questions FAA as debate heats up on air traffic above San Fernando Valley neighborhoods
“The Southern San Fernando Valley Airplane Noise Task Force, made up of local elected city officials and congressional representatives — has been critical of FAA officials, who many residents say gave a scant heads-up on the establishment of the NextGen…
600 Percent Rise in Noise Complaints Near Van Nuys Airport Leads to City Council Motion Addressing FAA
From KTLA… “The Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously Wednesday night to have the Federal Aviation Administration look into new rule changes it says have led to a 600 percent increase in noise complaints near Van Nuys Airport.” https://ktla.com/news/local-news/city-council-votes-to-have-faa-look-into-new-rules-leading-to-600-percent-rise-in-noise-complaints-near-van-nuys-airport/
City of LA Harbor Gateway Council Sends Hawthorne City Council Request for Help with Aircraft Noise
From the Harbor Gateway North’s letter to the Hawthorne City Council… On September 11, 2018, our Board voted 9-0-0 to go on record with this letter regarding the increased aircraft noise that many of our stakeholders who live below the…
Jet Center LA About to Open New Hangars Along 120th, Highlight Airport has no Curfew
More hanger space at Hawthorne run by Jet Center LA. According to the City jet traffic is up 300% in the last couple of years. Will this bring in even more jets? It’s not looking good. Particularly when Jet Center…
Hawthorne Quiet Skies Coalition Disappointed in May 4th Meeting
The Coalition was disappointed in the City’s presentation to community members on May 4th. No one from City leadership even attended. About 70 residents attended completely filling the room. We are continuing to talk with City of Hawthorne leaders to…
Uh-oh: New Airline ROAM Starting Commercial Service at Hawthorne Soon
Well this can’t be good – yet another commercial airline is starting up operations at Hawthorne Airport. They say they’re launching a similar model to Surf Air “in the coming months.” How did tiny Hawthorne airport surrounded by neighborhoods close…
How Does an Airport Noise Advisory Committee Work?
San Diego Airport’s new Community Advisory Committee offers one model… From the La Jolla Light newspaper: The Airport Noise Authority initiated the Flight Procedures Study in January 2018, published a call for applications to serve on the Citizen Advisory (CAC)…
We Asked Hawthorne Airport Neighbors: What’s Your Greatest Safety or Noise Concern?
Here are some of the responses (we keep answers anonymous to protect neighbors privacy)… Surf Air planes are too loud and fly land too low to the ground upon approach to the airport over the Parkside Village community. Airplanes flying…
Hawthorne City Council and City Manager Discuss Noise and Safety Concerns from Residents
https://youtu.be/06I2CgHCQsc April 10, 2018 City Council meeting. Speaker Arnold Shadbehr, City Manager, City of Hawthorne
Hawthorne Airport Public-Private Partnership Deal Signed in 2006 to Expand Airport, Prepare for Big Jets
From the Daily Breeze on 9/1/17 Hawthorne airport shuts down for remodel In December 2006, the city worked out a public-private deal with real estate investors Wedgewood Properties, Kearny Real Estate Co. and Howard CDM to improve the property. The…
General Background on FAA and Airport Noise
UC Davis Aviation Noise Conference – March 2018 Aviation Laws Over the Years Presenters: Steve Alverson ES Associations (Steve is also the FAA assigned consultant to assist the LAX Community Roundtable) and Greg Maxwell, Casper 1958 FAA Act – Congress recognized…
Santa Monica Group Sends Pollution Warning Letter to Jet Company
More information about jet pollution and the impact on children from the Santa Monica Airport Future group (their letter is featured below)… FPK is an environmental health advocacy group that has been studying the long term health impacts of aircraft…
Jet Exhaust Found to be Dangerous, Particularly for Children
An LA Times article from 2014 highlights a university research project into LAX pollution. The researchers found landings and takeoffs create ultrafine particulates that land on homes and school below the flight path. As Hawthorne airport jet traffic expands neighborhoods, schools…
Surf Air Begins Helicopter Service from Orange County to Hawthorne Airport
Just what we didn’t need more helicopter noise on the way. According to the Robb Report… Surf Air has made its service more appealing to residents of California’s Orange County. The all-you-can-fly membership airline recently added a helicopter shuttle between John…
Hawthorne Quiet Skies Coalition Hosts Successful Community Meeting – Feb 2018
Four neighborhood associations have joined together to work on Hawthorne Airport noise and safety issues. We held our first open community meeting in February 2018. Approximately 50 community members attended and shared their concerns. Feb 2018 HHR Coalition Meeting agenda…
Hawthorne Airport Fly Quietly Guidelines
Hawthorne Pilot Guide and Noise Abatement Procedures 2017 (pdf) Source: City of Hawthorne City staff has told us no one uses the guide, the only guidelines they follow is on departure they need to turn south away from LAX traffic. One…
Wiseburn Watch Releases Petition Results – Jan 2018
We the people of Los Angeles County unincorporated community of Wiseburn CA 90250 want the Hawthorne Airport to end the practice of commercial and private aircraft flying over our city. This has increased dramatically the last year and a half.…
FAA Letter About Hawthorne Airport Noise and Safety Issues
Here is the response received from the FAA (pdf) Problems with the FAA’s responses in this letter include: Issue Current Status Findings Part 150 Noise Maps did not identify sensitive schools and residences “The two schools were classified as ‘Misc Govt…
West Athens Community Letter to Congresswoman Waters
Here’s a letter the West Athens, Hollypark and Parkside Village communities sent to our representative Congresswoman Waters. She responded by participating in a community meeting in February 2018 and continues to help community members with airport issues. Wednesday, November 29,…
Who Owns and Operates Hawthorne Airport?
It gets complicated, but it all seems designed to ignore those of us in local communities… City of Hawthorne owns the airport and the City Council gets to make overall strategic decisions about what will happen to the airport. They…
A coalition of neighbors for quiet, safe flight paths
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