Should a Flight School be Allowed at the Healdsburg Airport?

Some Healdsburg residents say a proposed flight school at the Healdsburg Airport would make their homes noisier, less safe and less valuable. 

City officials counter that the flight school's proposed 10 takeoffs and landings per day would bring activity at the airport to 2006 levels, when a study said no nearby residents were exposed to excess noise from airplanes.

This summer, the Healdsburg Transportation Advisory Commission in a split vote recommended the city deny the flight school proposal, and the Healdsburg City Council is scheduled to decide Monday night.

Robert Markwood currently conducts flight-simulator-based instruction out of an office at the Healdsburg Airport, and hopes to bring in five planes for student flights. He would conduct training flights between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m., and two flights per month between 8 p.m. and midnight, to allow for required night training.

The city staff report for Monday's council meeting includes letters and emails from nearby residents, some in favor and some opposed to the flight school project. Some residents say pilots often deviate from the airport's flight paths; they argue inexperienced pilots are even more likely to do this and create excess noise. Others worry about the possibility of crashes.

"We have serious objections to this proposal and yes this is NIMBY-ism," Healdsburg residents Laurie and Robert Pousman said in a letter to the Transportation Advisory Commission. "But it is also not appropriate in anyone's backyard."

Healdsburg city staff is recommending approval of the flight school.

[Correction: An earlier version of this story misidentified the recipients of the Pousmans' letter to the Transportation Advisory Commission. Patch regrets the error.]

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Healdsburg City Council meeting
6 p.m. Monday, Oct. 7
401 Grove St.

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