General Aviation Noise Ordinance (GANO) KSNA local VFR procedures
Not for navigation. Verify against the official sources linked below before flight.
noise abatement Regulatory / ordinance — MANDATORY verified 2026-08-28 (42 d ago)
Compliance is required by law — federal regulation or a local ordinance with enforcement authority.
Mandatory SENEL limits by noise monitoring station, far stricter at night; a misdemeanor, and three violations in three years denies you the airport for three years.
The route
- No general aviation aircraft may operate at John Wayne if it generates a SENEL greater than 102.5 dB at NMS 1S, 101.8 at NMS 2S, or 101.1 at NMS 3S
- At night the limits fall to roughly 86.7-87.6 dB across the monitoring stations
- Night means departures 2200-0700 (0800 Sundays) and arrivals 2300-0700 (0800 Sundays), local time
- Violation is a misdemeanor punishable by up to $1,000 and/or six months; three or more violations in three years denies the owner and aircraft the right to arrive or depart for three years
- In a training flight, the instructor pilot is presumed to have caused the violation
- Certain aircraft types are presumed incapable of meeting the limits and are not permitted to land, tie down, take off or be based at the airport except in emergency
When it applies
- Runway 2L or 2R or 20L or 20R — all operations The GANO limits are keyed to noise monitoring stations, not runways; the ordinance references runways only definitionally ("Runway 20L/R or Runway 02L/R")
Source text, verbatim
Sec. 2-1-30.5. General aviation operations. (a) No person shall operate any general aviation aircraft at John Wayne Airport if it generates a SENEL level, as measured at John Wayne Airport NMS 1S, NMS 2S, or NMS 3S, on takeoff or landing, which is greater than the following SENEL values: NMS 1S 102.5 dB / NMS 2S 101.8 dB / NMS 3S 101.1 dB (b) Curfew. (2) For purposes of this Section, general aviation aircraft operations at night shall mean departures between the hours of 10:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. (8:00 a.m. on Sundays) (local time)... and arrivals between the hours of 11:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. (8:00 a.m. on Sundays) (local time). Sec. 2-1-30.8. Denial of use of airport. (a) In the event that any aircraft owner or operator has three (3) or more violations... within any three-year period, then for a period of three (3) years... such aircraft owner and/or operator shall be denied the right to arrive at or depart from John Wayne Airport. Sec. 2-1-30.14. Enforcement procedures. (a) Violation of Section 2-1-30.4 or 2-1-30.5 of this Division shall be a misdemeanor. Sec. 2-1-30.11. Culpability of instructor pilot. In the case of any training flight in which both an instructor pilot and a student pilot are in the aircraft which is flown in violation of any of the provisions of this article, the instructor pilot shall be presumed to have caused such violation.
The text above is the published source wording and is authoritative over any summary on this page.
Sources
- County of Orange — General Aviation Noise Ordinance (GANO), Codified Ordinances Div. 2-1-30 County of Orange · retrieved 2026-08-28
- John Wayne Airport — Noise abatement ("Compliance with the GANO is mandatory unless deviations are made necessary by ATC instructions, a medical or in-flight emergency, or other safety considerations") County of Orange / John Wayne Airport · retrieved 2026-08-28