Shelby, NC Noise Ordinances: Aircraft Noise (2026)

City Code § 16-34 lists activities exempt from the noise-disturbance rules in Article II. Exemption (9), titled "Aircraft," exempts all noise from the normal operations of properly equipped aircraft, covering fixed-wing planes and helicopters alike, from the article's unreasonably-loud-noise standards and decibel caps. Only "scale model aircraft," meaning remote-control planes and drones, fall outside the exemption and remain subject to the general noise rules in sections 16-35 through 16-38. Shelby sets no separate decibel limit, flight-path restriction, or time-of-day curfew for helicopter or aircraft noise; actual flight operations are instead regulated by the FAA under federal law, not city ordinance.