Meriden, CT Noise Ordinances: Aircraft Noise (2026)

§ 141-8.A lists eight categories of noise the chapter never reaches, and aircraft flight operations sit alongside natural phenomena, building clock or church bells, emergency vehicle sirens and alarms, OSHA-mandated warning devices, farming equipment, actual emergencies, and City-ordered snow removal equipment. The aircraft clause in § 141-8.A(4) is narrow: it exempts noise "created by aircraft flight operations," not the airport itself, so ground equipment, hangar activity or construction at an airport site remains subject to the ordinary Chapter 141 rules, including the zone-based decibel ceilings in § 141-5 (as low as 51 dBA reaching a residential zone at night) and citation authority in § 141-9.

The exemption's own text supplies the reason: the City states the noise is "specifically preempted by the Federal Aviation Administration," meaning federal law occupies aircraft-noise regulation and a municipal decibel standard could not lawfully bind flight operations, so Meriden wrote the carve-out directly into its ordinance rather than attempting to regulate around it. Because the exemption is absolute, the Meriden Police Department has no citation basis under § 141-9 for a complaint about aircraft noise alone, unlike every other noise source in the chapter, which remains subject to the $77 base fine and $500-per-day continuing cap.