Well, I'd start of by (nicely!) asking them to justify their "comments about small planes buzzing around in the air causing a nuisance". People who enjoy fishing, or gardening, or riding a motorbike don't have to justify themselves, so why should we? On the other hand, if someone has a legitimate complaint about weekend motorcyclists, the motor-cycle industry should address - as should we if people have legitimate complaints.
Unless the complainant lives near an airfield, explaining the low-flying rules (500', 1500', 1000m and land-clear) should be sufficient.
If the complainant does live near an airfield, find out if they are under the circuit, and suggest they
- Go for a flight with you, during which you will not only introduct them to the joys of flying, but also demonstrate why it's necessary to fly over their village
- Talk to the CFI at the local flying school, because it may be possible to publish a noise-abatement circuit which avoids their house, especially if a whole village is affected. Of course they shouldn't actually complain to the CFI - they will achieve far more if they enter a reasonable discussion with the CFI, proposing alternatives and listening to what the CFI has to say (which you may be able to help them with, of course).
Although justification of flying shouldn't be necessary, that doesn't mean it's impossible. Airline pilots need to be trained. Business aircraft need to have airfields to be based at, as do air ambulances, police helicoptors and so on. Private aviation pours a lot of money into airfields - if private aviation were to cease overnight, the airfields would close down, causing commercial training and other light commercial aviation all kinds of problems. Not to mention the unemployment at the airfields - operations staff, flying instructors, ground-crew, maintenance, and so on. Many airfields also have an busy social calendar, including a bar which is used by pilots when they're not flying, and may be used for private functions. Then there's the indirect effect on the petro-chemicals industry (you and I know that AvGas accounts for a tiny proportion of all the fuel sold, but the average man-in-the-pub assumes aeroplanes use tons of fuel!) and the manufacturing industry.
I'm sure I could carry on, but I need to do a bit of work at some point today....
FFF
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