Residents complaining about ‘low-flying aircraft’ in Ballina, but flight path approved by council
Disgruntled residents of a northern NSW tourist town are raising concerns about “low-flying aircraft” over homes - prompting an operator to offer up a generous olive branch.
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Residents of a northern NSW tourist town have complained to council about “low-flying aircraft” over homes - prompting an operator to offer up free flights to disgruntled locals.
Ballina residents have taken to social media to express their concerns about the recent flights, with a couple of hundred comments in some threads.
But White Star Aviation head of operations Nathan James defended the “small flight academy” training as approved by Ballina Shire Council.
He said the business had only received two emails from disgruntled Ballina residents complaining about noise.
“The majority of air traffic in Ballina isn’t ours. The Gold Coast has schools that also fly over Ballina,” he said.
Mr James said the training academy has “taken a lot of steps” to keeping noise to a minimum like quieter, new aeroplanes, which “are about half the noise of an average leaf blower next door”.
He offered residents a tour of White Star’s operations and processes - and even said he would give free flight classes to those unhappy with the pilot training.
“We also always welcome the local community to have a free lesson and can guide them on how the flight training process works and also, what we’re doing,” he said.
Ballina resident Derek Strong said in recent evenings he spotted the “noisy” planes flying over every couple of minutes between 7:30pm-9:30pm
“It’s very disturbing,” he said.
Mr Strong said he contacted Ballina Airport, Airservices Australia and the council and lodged complaints.
Cherrie Cairns, another unhappy resident, said she had watched light aircraft looping over West Ballina for weeks.
“Mid-week on Wednesday and Thursday three (planes) were circling quite low,” she said.
A spokesman for the council said the relevant flight path has been approved.
Mr Strong said he was worried more pilots would soon be taking to the air for training, increasing disruptions.
He urged residents airing their frustration on social media to formally complain to the council.
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