Ban flight schools from St. Hubert airport: residents

Some residents of Montreal's South Shore say noise from a nearby airport has become unbearable and are asking the city of Longueuil to ban flight schools.

About 200 residents gathered at city hall Wednesday evening to air their frustration over what they say is excessive noise from the Saint Hubertairport.

The city of Longueuil called for hearings after a recent study suggested decibel levels at the airport are sometimes double the recommended limits set by Transport Canada.

Planes fly late into the night at the airport, which is used by several flight schools, the Canadian military, RCMP, provincial police and Pratt & Whitney.

"It makes you crazy, and makes you nervous as well," said area resident Gilles Lacoste.

The only solution is for the city to find another airport for the student pilots to use, said Lacoste.

"We're not going to deal with half-measures. If they say that it's going to be less bad, less bad is no good for us," he said.

Johanne Domingue, who has lived near the airport herentire life, describes the last two years as hell. Several flight schools now use the airport and Dominigue say pilot training runs are constant.

"There are four schools and those four schools in the last two years have been growing bigger and bigger," she said. "We live near an airport we know there's going to be flights. The problem is there's too much. "

She says there are times when she can't even hear the radio in her house.

"Let's say in the summer, where you want to sit outside and make a bbq, it's impossible. You don't even hear somebody that's sitting in front of you," she said.

Domingue says the study on airport noise commissioned by the city found that a plane flies over her house every minute on weekdays.

The three-day public consultation will continue Thursday evening, when the flight schools are scheduled to have their say.