MESA, Ariz. — East Mesa residents living beneath flight paths around Falcon Field Airport say the volume of daily training flights has reached a tipping point, sparking renewed concerns about noise, safety and quality of life, especially following a training plane’s crash-landing Monday.
Falcon Field, a city-owned general aviation airport and one of the busiest of its kind in the country, has long coexisted with surrounding neighborhoods. But homeowners who have lived near the airport for decades say the surge in flight-school activity over the past year has dramatically changed their day-to-day lives.
“It’s just a constant, constant noise,” said Red Mountain Ranch resident Bob Spurlock, who has lived in the community for 23 years. Spurlock says that in some 15-minute periods, he’s counted more than two dozen planes passing overhead — most of them operated by one of roughly 15 flight schools that use Falcon Field for touch-and-go training…