Asheville, NC Noise Ordinances: Aircraft Noise (2026)

Sec. 10-85 bans amplified sound, unmuffled vehicles, and other listed noise sources citywide, but Sec. " Unlike the fireworks exception in clause (8), which caps frequency and hours, or the film production exception in clause (7), which requires a city permit, the aircraft exception carries no numeric cap, no time-of-day limit, and no local permitting requirement, so long as the aircraft complies with federal rules. The condition is tied only to federal compliance, meaning the city defers entirely to whatever the Federal Aviation Administration already requires rather than layering its own decibel limits or curfews on top.

The exception applies citywide with no carve-out limited to a particular airport or flight path, so it reaches both commercial and general aviation traffic operating over Asheville. Because the exception is unconditional once federal compliance is met, aircraft noise complaints fall outside Chapter 10's civil-penalty and stop-order enforcement mechanisms used for construction, amplified sound, and other regulated sources. The exception was enacted with the rest of the noise-article rewrite, Ord. No. 4390, adopted 7-27-21.