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by Friday Morning Flight Plan at [date]
General aviation pilots are aware of noise abatement rules, but only some have flown in areas subject to them. Here are a few things you should know to gain a fuller understanding of compliance, what can happen if you don’t comply, and when you can and should break noise abatement rules.
The governing regulations are in Part 150 under Airport Noise Compatibility Planning (established by the Aviation Safety and Noise Abatement Act of 1979), Part 161 under Airport Noise and Access Restrictions, and individual airport noise abatement requirements listed in chart supplements. Airport websites often provide this information as well, but remember that a current chart supplement is the official rule.
A good example is Santa Monica (KSMO), which makes its noise abatement requirements available through the city website. The chart supplement contains detailed guidelines for runway departures, restrictions concerning certain operations on weekends, and a phone number to contact for the noise abatement office.
Enforcement of noise abatement procedures typically begins with municipal ordinances, which are usually found in a city's code. Let’s stick with Santa Monica as an example. The Santa Monica city website states:
- “The following procedures and limitations are mandatory and enforced per the City’s Aircraft Noise Ordinance.”
- Further, “all violations of the Santa Monica Noise Code are subject to progressive sanctions [starting at $2,000] of up to $10,000 dollars, including civil misdemeanor charges, and suspension or revocation of airport privileges. For detailed information on enforcement and appeal, see SMMC 10.04.04.040.”
Those are some sharp teeth for a GA pilot. If you choose to appeal, SMMC 10.04.04.040 (e) states:
Blah blah blah pursuant to yada yada yada. But here’s the part we care about: “The decision of the Hearing Examiner shall be final except for judicial review and shall not be appealable to the City Council.”
Therefore, it would be prudent for a GA pilot to conduct due diligence regarding this matter, as penalties and remedies vary, and local regulations can change without broad notice. Trusting something you heard on YouTube or Reddit might be correct, but it could also be quite diluted after passing through several iterations of the initial thought.
For example, Torrance Airport (KTOA), just south of KLAX, makes no distinction between its departure curfew for VFR and IFR flights. PPL holders doing IFR training would certainly want to be aware of this, and their CFIIs should definitely have done their homework.
The word “voluntary” is worth looking at closely as well. Per the noise abatement section of the City of Torrance website, “the initial goal of the Noise Abatement program is voluntary compliance through issuance of Notice of Violation letters, Noise Tests conducted by the pilots, and Noise Abatement staff and outreach. If voluntary compliance does not happen, enforcement, which could include hearing boards and ultimately the possibility of a pilot and/or aircraft being denied airport usage, can be used.”
So, it’s voluntary unless it’s not.
Everything boils down to this: Do pilots have to comply with noise abatement procedures? In essence, the FAA helps cities develop guidelines based on the aforementioned regs (Part 150 and 161), but the agency largely leaves it up to the cities to create ordinances in their city code. This means that any and every public-use airport in the country can have its own unique set of noise abatement procedures with associated warnings, fines, and potential prohibition of airport use.
Additionally, bear in mind why noise abatement codes exist. There are myriad reasons. The obvious one is so that nearby neighborhoods don’t feel like there’s a Bonanza landing on their roof every 30 minutes. The sad fact is that most non-pilots don’t love the sound of the IO-550 as much as you and I. Strange but true.
However, in other cases, the reason is often tied to nature. Noise-sensitive wildlife can be harmed, or sustaining their population made impossible, with loud airplanes flying overhead.
Regardless of the reason, a sizable group of people decided to support each noise abatement rule, and it firmly feels its reasons are valid.
All that being said, the usual Rule of Rules, 91.3, still applies no matter what: “The pilot in command of an aircraft is directly responsible for, and is the final authority as to, the operation of that aircraft…[and] in an in-flight emergency requiring immediate action, the pilot in command may deviate from any rule of this part to the extent required to meet that emergency.”
In other words, do your homework so you know everything about a noise abatement procedure, but you have a good shot of avoiding enforcement if you need to be loud to avoid an even louder event like a crash. Never hesitate to deviate from noise abatement procedures if you deem it necessary in an emergency.