STOP THENOISE

Courts rule Nuisance is a State Matter
----
Mass Nuisance Lawsuit Settled
 

The Solution

The solution to the problem of intrusive recreational flying over private property requires fundamentally that recreational flying be much more regulated. Current regulations address only the safety aspects of how the pilots fly and the rules of the road. To this we must add the same types of regulations that apply to terrestrial vehicles in order to prevent destruction of human habitat by the flyers.

Aviation of necessity requires that planes fly through the airspace of other, not necessarily willing, property owners. In seizing an easement through the private airspace of the American property owners, the federal government, assumes a responsibility to regulate the use of this easement both in the public interest and in the interest of the property owners. While an argument can be made for allowing large high-altitude transports to use the easement, no such argument can be made for the recreational flyers. Yet the FAA continues to defend allowing the noisy little airplanes to destroy the natural tranquility of most of the countryside. 

FAA exempts itself from oversight by the Environmental Protection Agency.
FAA must rewrite its regulations such that all aviation activities are subject to environmental impact assessment using realistic maximum allowable levels. Realistic levels are levels that are environmentally sound and preserve the quality of life found in the absence of the aviation presence.

The dormant Office of Noise Abatement and Control creates the illusion of federal action while the FAA claims federal preemption over all aspects of the aviation industry.
ONAC must be fully funded and reactivated.
FAA must continue to regulate how flight activities are conducted while the states must regulate what types of aviation activity are allowed, when and where.

Current regulations allow aerobatics by default. Pilots need to seek a waiver only if FAA believes there is a safety concern. An environmental impact assessment and permission of property owners are needed only if the waiver is needed.
 The regulations must be changed to require a waiver for any and all aerobatic activity. This will force an environmental impact assessment and property owner buy-in before a flyer may damage a community with the fall-out from his aerial stunts.

Pilots enjoy anonymity while flying above our homes and lands. Pilots like this for obvious reasons. FAA likes it because it enables them to take no action on citizen complaints.
All aircraft must be positively identifiable at all times so that a complaint can be attached to a specific aircraft. This is FAA's responsibility. Citizens should be able to read registration numbers under the wings. Being unidentifiable must itself become a violation.

FAA is complicit in the abuses committed by the pilots. FAA inspectors ARE pilots. FAA avoids prosecuting pilots even when presented with overwhelming evidence. FAA claims to not know who the pilots are, yet after presenting FAA with evidence of violations, no prosecution occurs but the plane goes away, at least for a while. FAA regulates using backroom methods and a nod and a wink. FAA keeps whining "But where will they (we) fly?". FAA works in a buddy-buddy fashion with the pilots while treating the "non-flying public" with contempt.
The institutionalized corruption at FAA must be exposed. Congress must become involved. FAA must obey Congress and stop promoting aviation. FAA must recognize that aviation has harmful side-effects that are inherent to powered flight and thus aviation must be constrained and regulated. FAA needs a separate investigative branch with real detectives who actually try to bust the rogue airmen.

FAA does not maintain a proper database regarding reports of violations of the FAR or of environmental damage resulting from General Aviation. Complaints from the "non-flying public" are ignored or when they can't be ignored they are dismissed, usually for lack of an N-Number (a self-inflicted wound).
It is necessary to continue to register complaints and reports of violations of law and regulations with FAA. We must keep good records because FAA will not. We will not see results until FAA is exposed and reformed, but we must file the complaints to demonstrate FAA's bad faith dealing with the "non-flying public".