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
 

STOP the Noise was organized in 2000 by a group of citizens in Ayer, MA who were finding themselves subjected to ever-increasing aerobatic practice sessions being conducted above and near their properties. When complaints to the Federal Aviation Administration failed to bring any sort of relief, these folk advertised and held a meeting at the Town Hall. Over 200 people from a dozen communities attended.

Over the next few months, these concerned citizens decided that the the only way to solve the problem was to become active in investigating and documenting the abuses of their land and their persons and the violations of the Federal Aviation Regulations, and then to bring this information to the public and to the appropriate authorities.  

A first stage of this process was for the members to educate themselves. This education covered many topics such as the applicable Federal and State laws, the business of sport and recreational flying, and who the pilots were who were intruding on our peaceful homesteads. This took several months. It required working with FAA to understand what FAA needed to prosecute flyers. It required a paid consultant to tell us the things FAA was hiding. It required countless hours reading FAA regulations and history. It requires constantly finding new sources of reliable information.

In June 2001, we incorporated as Stop the Noise, Inc., a Massachusetts, non-profit corporation.

Since we first published this web site, we have been hearing from people all over the country. By 2005 we were hearing from at least as many people facing problems due to either activities at small airports or who were facing the threat of expansion at their local small airport. While airports were not a problem for us when we formed STN, we do recognize that we have a duty to help those asking for help by sharing what we at STN have learned about FAA and by facilitating communication between these otherwise isolated groups. We have learned in our six years that FAA tries to keep the battles small and local and fears nothing more than a national organization opposed to its tyranny. For these reasons we have added pages to our website with information for those fighting for local control of the airport in their community.

We have reached out to others around the country and have found many other people engaged in the same fight. We find that our stories are the same: we each thought we were alone; we found others near us; we organized; our groups found each other. The internet has empowered us to become a national presence. This is good as the problem requires a national solution. When we engage FAA, or a Congressman or the press we can now speak of larger numbers and a larger footprint.  We would like to add your name to our membership list. Please join us in this fight.