Prince George's County, MD Noise Ordinances: Aircraft Noise (2026)

Prince George's County built a broad list of exemptions into its Noise Control Division at § 19-123, carving out sources the County has decided not to police locally, either because they are already regulated elsewhere or because covering them would be impractical. Aircraft sits on that list at § 19-123(b)(6): 'Aircraft and related airport operations at airports licensed by the Maryland Aviation Administration' are exempt outright, meaning the County's decibel table at § 19-122(a), its nighttime residential cap of 55 dBA, and its general 'noise disturbance' standard at § 19-121(11) do not apply to a plane, helicopter, or airport ground operation covered by a Maryland Aviation Administration license.

The same subsection also exempts several related transportation sources for context: motor vehicles on public roads (§ 19-123(b)(5)), rapid rail transit vehicles and railroads (§ 19-123(b)(11)), and boats on State waters (§ 19-123(b)(7)), reflecting a pattern of leaving state- and federally-licensed transportation noise to those other regulators rather than the County's own ordinance. Section 19-123(a) separately exempts devices used solely to warn or alert the public of an emergency, and § 19-123(b)(18) exempts any source already subject to a stricter State or federal noise-control law.

Because commercial aviation noise around Washington-area airports is governed by the Federal Aviation Administration's flight-path and airport-noise programs and by the Maryland Aviation Administration's own licensing, a resident under a flight path has no County ordinance, permit process, or civil citation route available under Subtitle 19; the Noise Control Division's enforcement machinery at §§ 19-124 through 19-126, fines, civil citations, and Administrative Court review, never engages for an aircraft-noise complaint.