Norman, OK Noise Ordinances: Aircraft Noise (2026)

NCC 16-209, titled 'Exemptions,' removes several categories from the entire noise article, including NCC 16-205's decibel limits and NCC 16-208's list of prohibited noises: emergency alerts, emergency work, authorized public-safety equipment testing, school-sponsored sporting events, public utilities regulated by the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, 'Interstate railway locomotives and trains en route, and aircraft under authorization by the Federal Aviation Administration,' and activity under a City noise permit. Because aircraft cleared under FAA authorization sit on that exempt list, Norman's Police Department cannot cite a flight, a helicopter, or a training aircraft under NCC 16-208 no matter how loud it is over a residential district.

That matters in Norman because the University of Oklahoma's Max Westheimer Airport sits inside the city and generates flight-training traffic; residents under its pattern have no local ordinance to invoke and must instead raise complaints with the airport, the FAA, or OU. The exemption is narrow: it covers only aircraft operating under FAA authorization, so a ground-based sound source connected to airport operations, such as a maintenance shop or ground vehicle, is not automatically exempt and remains subject to the ordinary NCC 16-205/16-208 limits.