LOS ANGELES — Sling Pilot Academy, which in December lost its appeal to reverse the non-renewal of its Torrance business license, has obtained a preliminary injunction preventing the city from blocking renewal of the license.

What You Need To Know

  • Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Curtis A. Kin issued the ruling Thursday and also had issued a temporary restraining order against the city on Dec. 21 pending Thursday’s hearing
  • The judge wrote, "(Sling) had a right to renewal of its business license for 2024 as no validly enacted ordinance was in effect to prevent it” 
  • Sling would suffer harm if the injunction was not granted, including adverse effects upon its employees, students and existing contracts, according to the judge
  • The academy’s attorneys maintained in their court papers that only the federal government, through the FAA, exclusively regulates flying aircraft

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Curtis A. Kin issued the ruling Thursday. He also had issued a temporary restraining order against the city on Dec. 21 pending Thursday’s hearing.

“Considering that (Sling) has annually received renewal notices for its business license in December and, consistent with the Torrance Municipal Code, been issued a renewed license upon paying its renewal fee, (Sling) had a right to renewal of its business license for 2024 as no validly enacted ordinance was in effect to prevent it,” the judge wrote.

Sling would suffer harm if the injunction was not granted, including adverse effects upon its employees, students and existing contracts, according to the judge, who further said the potential harm outweighs complaints from nearby residents about noise caused by the flight school.

The City Council on Dec. 12 denied Sling’s appeal of the decision to not renew its license. Attorneys for the city opposed the preliminary injunction.

“The city’s limit on the number of flight schools on the ground is a valid exercise of its police power and is not preempted by FAA regulation of airspace or aircraft in flight,” the city’s lawyers stated in their court papers while adding that Sling “does not have a vested right to continued renewals of its business license.”

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However, the academy’s attorneys maintained in their court papers that only the federal government, through the FAA, exclusively regulates flying aircraft.

“The (Sling) petition seeks to remedy an egregious wrong being perpetrated by city to run Sling out of town,” according to the school’s attorneys’ court papers, which further stated that the city is relying on a 1977 resolution which was never previously enforced that limits the number of flight schools at Torrance Municipal Airport-Zamperini Field to six.

Therefore, federal law preempts any local regulation limiting the number of flight schools, according to the Sling attorneys’ court papers.

Sling began operations in Torrance in July 2013 and received a letter dated Oct. 24 from city Finance Director Sheila Poisson that its business license would not be renewed because of the six-school limit, the academy lawyers state in their court papers. But although Sling is listed as the seventh flight school, it actually is the sixth one because one flight school identified by the city, does not actually operate such a business, according to the school’s attorneys’ court papers.

The Sling attorneys further maintained that the City Council “embarked on a campaign to severely limit aircraft flying overhead” because of residents’ complaints and the council’s “hostility to flying aircraft.”

A trial-setting conference in the case is to determine whether a permanent injunction should be issued is scheduled March 26.