Model planes get OK to resume flights

PALMER — The skies over the Mat-Su Borough are no longer a no-fly zone for tiny, noisy aircraft.

The Mat-Su Borough last week decided unanimously to repeal a section of its code in place since 2008 that restricted how loud model airplanes could be. The limit was set at 5 decibels over ambient noise if the property is residential and 3 decibels over ambient noise if it were a “noise-sensitive area.” The whole thing was problematic for a lot of radio-controlled fliers.

Gary Utt, president of Frontier Fun Fliers, said the main field where folks flew model aircraft, a hayfield on Moffit Farm, had an ambient noise reading of something like 43 decibels. So, he reasoned, 48 would be breaking the law.

“The sound metering equipment that I could buy over-the-counter starts at about 50 decibels,” he said.

Others testified that a jump of 3 decibels was akin to a running refrigerator in a quiet home.

Since the ordinance was passed, some people still flew quieter electric planes or gliders, but most of the gas-powered model airplane flying moved to Anchorage, enthusiasts told the assembly last week.

“You have people from the Valley coming all the way to the Anchorage side to fly model airplanes,” UTT said.

Pat Martin, a pilot, aircraft maintenance instructor and president of Mat-Su RC Modelers, said radio controlled flying introduces children to aviation. And Alaska needs aviators.

“I would ask that each and every one of you think about the first time you saw an airplane and what you thought,” Martin said. “Maybe it was a daughter or a son or a grandchild that saw an aircraft in the sky while you were present. I remember what moment that was for me as if it were yesterday.”

Before the assembly could debate the change to code, one of its members, Steve Colligan, had to step out of the room.

“I would like to declare a conflict of interest,” he said. “I’ve been a model airplane enthusiast for as long as I can remember.”

More than that, though, Colligan said he had expended time and resources since the ordinance was passed “to research the inapplicability and the unenforceability of this particular ordinance.”

When it came time to debate, though, Colligan’s colleagues were pretty much in agreement for a variety of reasons.

“I just don’t think pinpointing one little noisemaker is the way to go,” Assemblyman Vern Halter said. And how does a chainsaw or snowmachine stack up to the requirement placed on the model airplanes? “I don’t know what the ambient sound is at any given point.”

Assemblyman Warren Keogh said he doesn’t think outlawing noise sources based on how they compare to ambient sound is the way to go.

Borough Mayor Larry DeVilbiss said that, as he recalled, the ordinance came about as the result of complaints from two residents who live near the field.

“I can tell you it pretty much killed it because from Moffit field then went to different farms and you run into the same problem because it covers the whole Valley,” DeVilbiss said.

The ordinance repealing the noise requirements for planes passed unanimously.

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.