STOP THENOISE

Courts rule Nuisance is a State Matter
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Mass Nuisance Lawsuit Settled
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Misinformation
 on the Web
 

Anonymity Is the Pilots Best Friend

Try calling FAA to report a loud, low-flying or otherwise recklessly operated aircraft. The first thing they will ask is "Do you know the registration number?" 999 times out of 1000 you will not. The FAA will then lie to you and tell you there is nothing they can do. The FAA is off the hook. The pilot is off the hook. You are made to feel helpless and alone.

If you called your local police regarding a crime in progress you would expect an investigation. As a minimum you would expect a patrolman to come and talk to witnesses, gather what evidence was available, and to try to fill in the missing pieces. If you gave a good description of a suspect or vehicle, you would expect at least some effort  to check out the usual suspects.

Not so with FAA. FAA sees the lack of a registration number as an opportunity to take no action. After all, the pilots are their friends. Hey, the inspectors are all pilots. They don't want the pesky non-flying public to be interfering with their god-given right to fly. We have obtained a letter to pilots from an FAA Inspector warning them that STOP the NOISE was going so far as to even try to learn the pilots' identities. Imagine!

On the other hand, when presenting FAA with a package of evidence containing everything but a registration number, including pictures of uncommon and uniquely painted aircraft, we were told they agree that if only the registration numbers were under the wings where we could all see them, that the inspectors' job would be so much easier. When then asked why then they do not work within the FAA to change the rules in order to require large registration numbers under the wings so that they can better perform there enforcement duties, we hear things like "AOPA would never let us do that".

When STOP the NOISE submitted a rule-making petition to FAA to require large registration numbers under the wings, FAA summarily denied the petition without discussion and without a public comment period upon receipt a direction to do so from AOPA.

Under the current regulations, the registration number can be as small as three inches tall and tucked away on the vertical tail surface under the horizontal stabilizer.

 Find the N-Number on the aircraft in the pictures below.

When our recent rulemaking proposal was denied by FAA on orders from AOPA, one of the reasons given was that we on the ground would not be able to see the numbers under the wing.

We have many photographs that suggest otherwise.

We will resubmit our proposal until it is approved. Each submittal will address the objections made to the previous until FAA sits down and works it out with us.

Please note: We had planned to resubmit the proposal in 2005, but were resource limited. We will make every effort to resubmit in 2007.