Flint, MI Noise Ordinances: Aircraft Noise (2026)

Section 31-70 titles Chapter 31, Article II as the Noise Control Ordinance of the City of Flint. Section 31-77 then removes seven categories of sound from that article, and paragraph (e) reads in full: Aircraft and trains. The exemption carries no altitude, hours, decibel or permit condition, so the article's limits do not apply to aircraft at all.

That removes two things. One is the noise disturbance ban in § 31-72, which reaches sound that annoys or disturbs a reasonable person of normal sensibilities. The other is the set of measured limits in §§ 31-73 through 31-76, which are taken at the real property boundary line of the receiving land use. Examples printed there include 60 dB(A) daytime and 50 dB(A) nighttime for continuous noise in a residential area, and 50 dB(A) daytime and 45 dB(A) nighttime for perpetual noise. A resident bothered by an aircraft cannot invoke those numbers against it.

The other exemptions in § 31-77 are the emission of sound to alert persons to an emergency, sound in the performance of emergency work, police, fire and ambulance sirens and horns, motor vehicles and equipment whose noise is regulated by Act 73 of the Public Acts of 1978 or the City of Flint Motor Vehicle or Traffic Code, building work under paragraph (f), and domestic tools such as lawn mowers operated in a manner and frequency that is normal and customary in the community.

The only aircraft-specific ground rule in the City Code sits in Chapter 5, the airport chapter, and it is written around danger, not loudness. Section 5-45(d) requires a competent person at the controls of each aircraft whenever the engine is started or running. It also says aircraft shall not be run up, excluding takeoff run-ups, within or in the vicinity of airport buildings, or whenever the run-up would be dangerous to property or person. For extended run-ups the pilot should request clearance from the Airport Control Tower to use an appropriate area. Chapter 5 defines RUN-UP as the operation of an aircraft engine, while standing stationary, for purposes of warm-up, testing, inspection or the like.

Nothing in § 5-45 sets a decibel limit or a curfew. Section 5-45(b) instead points taxiing to the Federal Aviation Regulations and Michigan Aeronautics Commission Rules.