Airport noise battle: Fernandina Beach residents get first chance to weigh in on FAA Master Plan

FERNANDINA BEACH - Ameila Island homeowners concerned by nearly 15,000 annual touch-and-go aircraft maneuvers will get their first opportunity Oct. 24 to formally weigh in on the municipal airport's long-term development plans, including runway alternatives, flight-school activity and aircraft noise affecting surrounding neighborhoods.

The public comment session — from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. — is the first of two scheduled as part of the Federal Aviation Administration-coordinated Airport Master Plan Update, which will guide airport development through 2045. It comes five months after city officials pledged stronger action to reduce noise from Jacksonville-based flight schools, yet residents continue to document repetitive training flights that they say disrupt their neighborhoods.

 

But homeowners expecting a formal presentation explaining what the city, FAA and aviation consultants have accomplished so far will not get one.

 

Instead, airport staff and consultants will answer questions and collect public comments at interactive information stations inside the airport terminal conference room during the four-hour open house.

The planning session is being combined with an aviation-themed family event featuring aircraft displays, a LifeFlight helicopter, emergency vehicles and food trucks. The city's promotional materials emphasize the aircraft attractions and family activities, creating confusion about whether the gathering is an aviation show or a public meeting about the airport's future.

 

Airport Manager Nathan Coyle clarified the event's purpose in response to questions about the announcement.

 

 

"This is the first of two public engagement events as a part of the Airport Master Plan Update," Coyle said in an email response.

 

"At this event, airport staff and consultant planners will host an open house format event with interactive information stations in the airport conference room area of the Terminal building."

 

Coyle said the stations will provide planning information and allow residents to express opinions about airport development alternatives.

"Within the conference room, there will be planning information, as a part of the Master Plan, that will be shared with the public to solicit opinions on development options of the airport," he said.

 

The session gives homeowners an opportunity to submit concerns for consideration in the official planning process. The city and its consultants are responsible for gathering public feedback as part of the FAA-coordinated update.

The opportunity comes after months of documented complaints about aircraft from Jacksonville area flight schools repeatedly circling Fernandina Beach Municipal Airport, sometimes beginning shortly after 7 a.m.

 

In May, City Manager Sarah Campbell told city commissioners that airport officials were increasing outreach to flight schools, monitoring operations and sending warning letters to operators who disregarded the city's voluntary noise-abatement guidelines.

 

Campbell said she and Coyle had met in person with representatives of two Jacksonville-area flight schools and held virtual meetings with two others.

 

"We've also been visiting in Jacksonville to some of the flight schools," Campbell told commissioners, explaining that the meetings were intended "to remind them of our noise abatement guidelines" and improve compliance.

She said city officials had also met with approximately 40 to 45 residents of Crane Island, where homeowners have complained about repeated low-altitude training flights.

 

The city was sending warning letters to operators who violated the guidelines, Campbell said.

"So each week, if somebody is violating the noise abatement guidelines, that flight school is receiving a notice from the city," she said.

 

"We are working on that and working to rein in some of the inappropriate use that people have concerns about."

But just 36 hours after Campbell's comments, two Cessna 172 aircraft operated by Jacksonville-based Aerosim Academy were conducting repeated training maneuvers at the airport beginning around 7:15 a.m.

 

FlightAware tracking screenshots reviewed by the Fernandina Observer showed one aircraft making repeated approaches at altitudes as low as 200 feet over the airport area, while another conducted multiple touch-and-go maneuvers over approximately an hour.

The Observer also documented an Atlas Aviation Cessna conducting 14 touch-and-go procedures during a one-hour flight.

 

The city's voluntary noise-abatement guidelines recommend no more than five consecutive touch-and-go maneuvers without departing the airport traffic pattern.

Coyle previously acknowledged the limits of those recommendations.

 

"We ask pilots to voluntarily comply with those guidelines, but we have no enforcement powers," he told the Observer. "We keep an eye on it when possible."

The scale of training activity was documented in a March Observer investigation using 12 months of airport tracking data.

 

The airport's VirTower system recorded 14,748 touch-and-go maneuvers between Oct. 1, 2024, and Sept. 30, 2025, averaging approximately 40 per day.

During the same period, the airport recorded 52,537 total aircraft operations, including 25,247 landings and 27,290 takeoffs. The reported number of touch-and-go maneuvers was equivalent to approximately 28% of the total operations count.

 

Cessna 172 aircraft, commonly used by flight schools, accounted for more than 29,000 operations, according to the tracking data.

Runway 13-31, the airport's most heavily used runway, also accounted for the largest share of touch-and-go training activity.

 

Aircraft noise was already cited as the dominant concern in public surveys presented at the first meeting of the airport's Master Plan Technical Advisory Committee in February.

 

FAA program manager and community planner Ryan Allen told committee members that residents were particularly concerned about flight schools and repetitive practice landings.

 

"Without a doubt, it's noise and it's limiting flight schools and touch-and-go activity," Allen said.

"Touch-and-go activities from the piston aircraft creating the noise impact were the two biggest areas of feedback that we received from the public survey."

 

The FAA surveys showed different priorities among respondents.

Residents ranked noise, environmental impacts and flight-school activity among their leading concerns, while airport tenants emphasized hangar availability and other aviation infrastructure needs.

 

"What the general public rated as tier one (most important), the tenants rated that as tier two (secondary concerns), and then vice versa," Allen said.

The technical advisory committee, composed of airport tenants, businesses and pilots, is scheduled to meet four times during the planning process. The October gathering is the first public engagement session specifically intended to solicit broader community input.

 

At the February meeting, consultants also introduced preliminary runway development concepts.

Allen said the FAA had directed the planning team to examine runway geometry earlier than usual because of Fernandina Beach's complex three-runway configuration and existing federal funding associated with Runway 13-31 improvements.

 

Senior aviation planner Mike Kotlow of AVCON Inc. told the committee that the airport's three runways provide nearly complete wind coverage, allowing aircraft to operate under varying wind conditions.

"When you combine your wind coverage with the three runways that you have, you have pretty much 100% coverage," Kotlow said.

 

The master plan will evaluate future aviation demand, runway alternatives and airport facility needs through 2045. The airport's previous master plan was completed in 2015.

Whether those development alternatives could reduce aircraft noise over surrounding neighborhoods remains a question residents can raise with planners.

 

The master plan itself, however, cannot impose new restrictions on flight-school operations or make voluntary noise-abatement guidelines enforceable. Such changes would require separate consideration under applicable federal aviation rules.

Fernandina Beach receives federal aviation funding, which carries obligations to provide reasonable access to airport users. Federal regulations limit the city's ability to impose restrictions on training flights.

 

Those limits have frustrated residents who believe the city should do more.

One Parkway North homeowner, responding to the city's May announcement of stepped-up noise enforcement, questioned whether federal regulations prevented meaningful local action.

 

"The position of the airport seems to be there is nothing they can do, the FAA is in charge. The flight schools ignore the noise plan. The form letter from the FAA states that noise issues are a shared responsibility between the community and airport sponsor. This is not the wild West," the homeowner wrote to the Observer.

Airport officials point to the airport's economic benefits, including business aviation, tourism and emergency services.

 

Coyle previously cited a Florida aviation economic impact study estimating the airport's annual economic impact at $219 million.

The October event will give homeowners an opportunity to place their concerns before the airport planning team as it evaluates future development alternatives.

 

The master plan process is conducted under FAA guidance and includes public participation, aviation forecasts, facility planning and development alternatives. The resulting airport layout plan will be submitted for FAA review.

Allen described the public engagement approach during the February technical advisory meeting.

 

"We usually do it in an open house format where, you know, the public can come in, engage with us, ask us questions, submit questions via comment box, and provide feedback on alternatives and the master plan process as a whole," he said.

Coyle said the October event will follow that approach, allowing attendees to review planning materials and submit comments throughout the four-hour period rather than attending a scheduled presentation.

 

The aviation portion of the event will be held separately on the airport parking apron, where locally based aircraft and aviation businesses will be on display.

"Our local flying community has partnered with the airport to provide local aviation attractions on a portion of the aircraft parking apron available for viewing by the general public before and/or after they have an opportunity to visit the Master Plan open house in the conference room," Coyle said.

 

For homeowners concerned about flight-school noise, the planning stations inside the terminal conference room will provide an opportunity to discuss runway development, airport growth and neighborhood impacts with the people preparing the master plan.

The city plans a second public engagement session later in the master plan process, but a date has not been announced.

 

Information about the airport master plan is available at the city's public involvement website.

Editor's Note: For full transparency, Fernandina Observer writer Mike Lednovich lives in Parkway North, one of the neighborhoods affected by aircraft noise from flight-school operations at Fernandina Beach Municipal Airport. His spouse is a member of an organized group of homeowners seeking solutions to the noise problem. Lednovich is not a member of the group and does not participate in its activities. The Observer's coverage of airport operations and the master planning process is conducted independently, with a commitment to accurate, fair and balanced reporting.