TORRANCE, Calif. — If you ask Chuck Costello, he insists he’s not anti-airport or anti-pilot. He just wants to restore the harmony between residents and the airport.

"Residents of an area have rights too, to peaceful quiet enjoyment of their property," said Costello, one of the leaders of COTAR, the Coalition for Torrance Airport Reform.

He says flight schools expanded during the pandemic, especially Sling Pilot Academy, which has taken most of the heat and he says many of the planes fly right over their homes. 

"The flight volume has jumped to nearly double what it used to be and the training flight patterns are low-altitude, successive loops around the airport," Costello said.

Back in October, the Torrance City Council voted to ban "touch and gos" at the airport. It’s a popular training exercise where pilots can more easily practice multiple takeoffs and landings.  

"They’re at low altitudes, full-throttle. It’s dangerous, and it’s very noisy," Costello said.

The council also voted earlier this year to reinstate a 1977 resolution that caps the number of flights schools at six.  Sling Pilot Academy is the 7th and could lose its business license at the end of the year. 

"It’s easy to say, 'Not in my backyard. Go do your flight training in the desert.' But the truth is we are serving Torrance and South Bay local residents here," said Matt Liknaitsky, co-CEO at Sling Pilot Academy.

The school recently obtained a temporary restraining order preventing the city from blocking renewal of the license pending an early 2024 hearing on a preliminary injunction.  Liknaitsky says Sling currently trains 200 full- time students and operates the quietest training fleet in the region, but the nation is facing one of the worst pilot shortages in decades, so flight training is up across the country as more companies offer better compensation packages.

"Sling Pilot Academy has completely vacated the south traffic pattern, which is the traffic pattern that operates over the rising terrain of [Palos Verdes]," Liknaitsky said.

Liknaitsky argues that the bigger problem has to do with airplanes coming from other airports and other regions who don’t know how to fly quietly and follow the rules.  

"It doesn’t help if we’re only educating our pilots about our noise sensitive areas, so it’s a regional issue.  It’s a national issue," he said.

So he helped launch Fly Friendly LA, comprised of a group of flight schools and aircraft operators who pledge to fly quieter and teach others how to do the same.

"We have shown a clear willingness to work with the community, to make drastic changes that impact our operation negatively for the benefit of residents nearby," Liknaitsky said.

It could be months before the touch and go ban takes effect as the city attorney’s office reviews it. Lawyers for Sling argue only the FAA can regulate airspace over an airport.  Still, Costello thinks it’s the right move.

"If the city council can’t find a solution to deal with this, then people are bound to start agitating to close the airport," he said.

Earlier this month, the Torrance City Council denied Sling's appeal of the decision to not renew its license.  A hearing on the preliminary injunction is scheduled for Jan. 11.