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Del Norte County Municipal Code § 11.08 Definitions 11.08.10 Generally 11.08.20 Air Carrier 11.08.30 Aircraft 11.08.40…

Del Norte County Municipal Code · 2026-09 edition · updated 2026-10-02 · Del Norte County

Cite as: Del Norte County Municipal Code § 11.08 · Text as of 2026-10-02

11.08.10 Generally

For the purposes of this title, the following definitions and meanings in this chapter shall apply unless otherwise specified.

(Ord. 79-12 § 4 (part), 1979)

Exceptions & meaning →

11.08.20 Air Carrier

"Air carrier" means any person who undertakes directly, by lease, or other arrangement, to engage in air transportation of persons or things. They operate, in various categories, under authority or certification by the U.S. Civil Aeronautics Board and/or the California Public Utilities Commission. Categories include certificated route air carriers, trunk carriers, flag carriers, local service carriers, all-cargo carriers, helicopter carriers, commercial air operators, air taxi operators and chartered air carriers.

(Ord. 79-12 § 4A, 1979)

Exceptions & meaning →

11.08.30 Aircraft

"Aircraft" means a device that is used, or intended to be used, for flight in the air. It includes airplanes, helicopters and gliders, and lighter-than-air devices such as blimps or balloons, but does not include hang gliders.

(Ord. 79-12 § 4B, 1979)

Exceptions & meaning →

11.08.40 Airports

"Airports" means the Del Norte County airports, their buildings and facilities, and all lands owned by Del Norte county contiguous to the airports, including airspace above such land and the designated approaches thereto.

(Ord. 79-12 § 4C, 1979)

Exceptions & meaning →

11.08.50 Air Traffic

"Air traffic" means aircraft operating in the air or on an airport surface, exclusive of loading ramps or parking areas.

(Ord. 79-12 § 4D, 1979)

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11.08.60 Air Traffic Clearance

"Air traffic clearance" means an authorization issued by air traffic control personnel for an aircraft to proceed under specified traffic conditions within controlled airspace.

(Ord. 79-12 § 4E, 1979)

Exceptions & meaning →

11.08.70 Autorotation

"Autorotation" means a rotocraft flight condition in which the lifting rotor is driven entirely by action of the air when the rotorcraft (helicopter) is in motion.

(Ord. 79-12 § 4F, 1979)

Exceptions & meaning →

11.08.80 Balloon

"Balloon" means a lighter-than-air aircraft which is not engine-driven.

(Ord. 79-12 § 4G, 1979)

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11.08.90 Ceiling

"Ceiling" means the height above the earth's surface of the lowest layer of clouds or obscuring phenomena that is reported as "broken," "overcast" or "obscuration," and is not classified "thin" or "partial."

(Ord. 79-12 § 4H, 1979)

Exceptions & meaning →

11.08.100 Commercial Operator

"Commercial operator" means any person who, for compensation or hire, engages in the carriage of persons, property or mail in air commerce, or engages in other aerial activity such as flight instruction, aerial photography, firefighting, agricultural aviation activities or traffic surveillance.

(Ord. 79-12 § 4J, 1979)

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11.08.110 Commercial Use

"Commercial use" means use of the county airports for revenue-producing commercial activities.

(Ord. 79-12 § 4K, 1979)

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11.08.120 County

"County" means the county of Del Norte.

(Ord. 79-12 § 41, 1979)

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11.08.130 Fixed Base Operator

"Fixed base operator" means any person who rents, leases or owns facilities located on the county airports, who by virtue of his specific type of aviation (or aviation-related) activity, requires the occupancy of a site with contiguous aircraft apron and direct access to the aircraft operation area, and who engages in a business activity providing aviation sales or services, including, but not limited to any of the following:

  1. Selling and/or servicing new and used aircraft and component parts;

  2. Aircraft maintenance and repairs;

  3. Sales and/or repair of avionics;

  4. Aviation training (including ground or flight instruction);

  5. Aerial photography;

  6. Air ambulance service;

  7. Aircraft agricultural operations (crop-dusting, spraying, or the application of seed, fertilizers, pesticides, defoliants, etc.), and;

  8. Aircraft rental, charter, leasing.

(Ord. 79-12 § 4L, 1979)

Exceptions & meaning →

11.08.140 Flight Visibility

"Flight visibility" means the average forward horizontal distance from the cockpit of an aircraft in flight, at which prominent unlighted objects may be seen and identified by day, and prominent lighted objects may be seen and identified by night.

(Ord. 79-12 § 4M, 1979)

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11.08.150 Ground Visibility

"Ground visibility" means prevailing horizontal visibility near the earth's surface.

(Ord. 79-12 § 4N, 1979)

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11.08.160 Helicopter

"Helicopter" means a rotor-driven aircraft (rotorcraft) that, for its horizontal motion, depends primarily on its engine-driven rotors.

(Ord. 79-12 § 4O, 1979)

Exceptions & meaning →

11.08.170 IFR

"IFR" means instrument flight rules covering metrological conditions below the minimums for flight under visual (VFR) conditions.

(Ord. 79-12 § 4P, 1979)

11.08.180 Maintenance

"Maintenance" means inspection, overhaul, repair, preservation and the replacement of parts, but excludes preventive maintenance.

(Ord. 79-12 § 4Q, 1979)

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11.08.190 Maximum Gross Landing Weight

"Maximum gross landing weight" means the maximum landing weight stipulated for a particular aircraft by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

(Ord. 79-12 § 4R, 1979)

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11.08.200 Night

"Night" means the time between the end of evening civil twilight and the beginning of morning civil twilight as published in the American Air Almanac, converted to local time.

(Ord. 79-12 § 4S, 1979)

11.08.210 Person

"Person" means an individual, firm, partnership, corporation, company, association, joint stock association, or governmental entity, and includes a trustee, receiver, assignee, or similar representative of any of them.

(Ord. 79-12 § 4T, 1979)

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11.08.220 Traffic Pattern

"Traffic pattern" means the traffic flow that is prescribed for aircraft landing at, or taking off from the county airports.

(Ord. 79-12 § 4U, 1979)

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11.08.230 Word Construction

The following word construction applies throughout this title:

  1. Words importing the singular include the plural.

  2. Words importing the plural include the singular; and

  3. Words importing the masculine gender include the feminine.

(Ord. 79-12 § 4V, 1979)

Exceptions & meaning →

11.08.240 VFR

"VFR" means visual flight rules covering meteorological conditions, above those requiring flight under IFR conditions.

(Ord. 79-12 § 4W, 1979)

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