Hawthorne Airport is a rather small airfield located in the middle of a well-populated area; I recall waiting for a light rail train on and elevated platform in the middle of the nearby freeway when, suddenly, from below the surrounding rooftop level(s), I saw a small plane, similar to the one in GoldenRivet's post, pop up into the sky; the plane gained altitude, circled around, and then headed back to the unseen airfield, descended below the rooftops only to rise again after being out of view for a few seconds; it repeated this pattern for several more times, so I presumed the pilot was practicing 'touch-and-go' landings...
The airfield is very small and has only one runway according to a co-worker who is a pilot and had flown out of Hawthorne before; he also said doing something like 'touch-and-go' practice at Hawthorne is a bit risky since, if something happens, there really isn't much safety space because of all the surrounding residences and businesses; the location of Hawthorne is very near the much larger LAX Airport and airspace infringement with LAX has been a problem in the past...
I have basically decided to give up my driver's license when it comes up for renewal on my upcoming 70th birthday; I haven't owned a car in years and have driven only very rarely in recent years; it is a law in California that all drivers have to be retested full, both written and behind the wheel, when they reach the age of 70; my nighttime vision has diminished in the last few years and current medical conditions make me wary of being behind the wheel; I'm not keen on the prospect of possibly hurting someone else just because of being too proud to admit the time has come to let common sense and reality to be a bigger factor than deluded self-image...
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