Trinity County, CA Noise Ordinances: Aircraft Noise (2026)

Chapter 8.16 (Sonic Booms) of the Trinity County Code is the county's dedicated aircraft-noise provision, enacted as Ordinance 329 in 1970. In its findings (Sec. 8.16.010), the Board of Supervisors found that aircraft operating at supersonic speeds above and near the county was causing 'more frequent, very loud, and increasingly intense, sudden and startling noises and ground level vibrations commonly known as sonic booms,' causing physical injury, damaging plaster, brick and glass, disturbing animals and livestock, and frightening citizens, and that 'no recognized or established sonic corridors travel over or near Trinity County.' Section 8.16.020 declares such supersonic flights a public nuisance. Section 8.16.030 makes it 'unlawful for any person to pilot any aircraft over and in the vicinity of the county at supersonic speeds so as to cause loud, sudden and intense sonic boom impacts in the county.' Section 8.16.040 addresses refusal to provide flight information, and the findings note enforcement is difficult because identifying supersonic pilots requires information held by the military and the FAA. Section 8.16.050 sets the penalty: a violator 'is guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars or by imprisonment not exceeding one year or by both.' Beyond sonic booms, ordinary aircraft and airport noise are primarily federal under FAA jurisdiction (Chapter 13.04 covers the County's airports), and federal preemption limits local regulation of aircraft in flight. The sonic-boom ordinance is a targeted nuisance measure, not a general aircraft-noise code, and applies countywide.