Problem Solvers: Bend residents raise concerns over aircraft noise
BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) - The City of Bend says one of the busiest airports in Oregon is located right here in Central Oregon with more than 140,000 annual takeoffs and landings. Much of that activity driven by student pilots logging required flight hours.
For some nearby residents, that steady stream of training flights has become a daily disruption.
The KTVZ Problem Solvers spoke with longtime Bend resident Ken Saurbier, who says aircraft noise has intensified in recent years.
“It’s just annoying,” Saurbier said. “You’re sitting on the couch watching something or sitting in the backyard, and the helicopters are really loud. When I worked for the school district, you’d hear them coming over the hospital and the schools every day.”
Saurbier now tracks aircraft movements online and showed KTVZ repeated “touch-and-go” training loops over his neighborhood near Bend Municipal Airport.
“Over the last two years, it’s really increased,” Saurbier said.
One of the primary sources of that activity is Leading Edge Flight Academy, which trains hundreds of student pilots in both airplanes and helicopters.
President Travis Warthen said flight paths, altitudes, and traffic patterns are set by the Federal Aviation Administration.
“All of that is established by the FAA,” Warthen said. “There are standard routes, altitudes, turns, and distances. It’s all set by those traffic patterns.”
The Problem Solvers toured the training zones, where pilots practice takeoffs and landings over nearby neighborhoods, schools, and St. Charles Bend hospital.
“If you’re practicing takeoffs and landings, you need a runway,” Warthen said. “But when helicopters are training for off-airport landings, most of that work happens out to the east.”
Researchers say repeated aircraft noise can have impacts beyond simple annoyance.
Matthew Bozigar, a researcher at Oregon State University, said studies have linked chronic aircraft noise to disrupted sleep and other health effects.
“We found it disrupted sleep in the U.S. and was associated with higher body mass or obesity,” Bozigar said. “There are many other documented health effects, particularly in Europe, from aircraft noise.”
The FAA says noise-abatement procedures at Bend Municipal Airport are voluntary. Pilots may deviate from recommended routes if safety is a concern, and the agency reviews noise complaints, referring any safety-related issues for investigation.
The flight school says some residents have also raised concerns about how low aircraft are flying.
Warthen said aircraft are operating within required altitudes, adding that perception from the ground can be misleading.
In the traffic pattern, airplanes are generally required to fly about 1,000 feet above ground level, while helicopters typically operate around 500 feet, with specific crossing altitudes designed to keep aircraft safely separated.
“If one of our aircraft is flying, it’s doing so for a purpose,” Warthen said. “It’s not for fun, and it’s not to harass anyone.”
Any significant changes to flight routes would require a federal airspace study, not a decision by the city or local flight schools.
Bend’s airspace is already under review as the airport prepares to add a new control tower, a process that could eventually change how and where aircraft operate.
KTVZ will continue following the issue as part of its ongoing Problem Solvers investigation.
