Narrative:

I was a flight instructor planning an IFR flight with a client who has a private pilot rating. Plan was to file and conduct an IFR training flight for the private pilot. I have a cfii rating also. IFR flight plan was to santa barbara muni (sba); ca. The IFR flight plan was filed and weather and NOTAMS for sba and route of flight were checked. I was in the right seat as an instructor while the private pilot flew left seat. ATIS from sba was received airborne and information was current with wind 110 at 9 knots; visibility 10 miles; ceiling 3500 broken and altimeter 29.92. At approximately 22NM from sba and heading about 280 degrees at 4000ft; I checked in with santa barbara approach control and requested the GPS runway 25 approach; enter at kwang intersection; to circle to land on runway 15 because of the prevailing wind from 110 at 9 knots. Approach controller informed me that it would be a 30 minute delay. I could see the city from 20NM with what appeared to be an overcast layer at 2000ft. Field elevation is 10ft. I decided to cancel IFR and proceed VFR. ATC gave me instructions to 'remain VFR and follow the freeway'. The freeway is highway 101 that runs east to west; along the california coast; through the city of santa barbara and bypasses to the north of sba. We flew as directed and as we approached nearer to sba; about 10-12 NM from the east; the ceiling appeared lower; about 1500-1800 ft. MSL; and we descended to approximately 1300 ft MSL to adhere to VFR cloud clearance requirements. The flight path took us over the city and we subsequently descended to enter a left base to land on runway 15 VFR. After being on deck at sba for 20 minutes we picked up our IFR flight plan back [home airport]. [A few weeks later] I was informed by my chief flight instructor that the owner of [aircraft]; who we lease the aircraft from for flight training; received a letter saying that his plane had descended below the santa barbara city ordinance of no lower than 1500 ft over the city. Reported altitude was 1300 ft and the ordinance is in place due to noise abatement. I admitted to being in that aircraft and described to him the facts previously stated. I asked my chief flight instructor if I was being flight violated and he said no. We just deviated from a santa barbara city ordinance by being 200 ft lower than we should have been. I informed him that I checked NOTAMS before flight and inflight approach control and sba tower never informed us of the no lower than 1500ft altitude limit. So how is a pilot supposed to know? Recently I called the phone number given in the FAA southwest flight information publication. This number is listed to call for noise abatement procedures. Outside of normal working hours you get a voicemail from the airport manager but it does not give a recording for noise abatement procedures. I also checked online on the airnav website; looked up sba; and NOTAMS on the defense internet NOTAM service website. Again; nowhere on these sites does it specify in detail what the noise abatement procedures are for sba and the no lower than 1500ft altitude limit. As stated; I [had] checked with FSS and also the airnav and NOTAM websites for sba procedures and did not see anything specific to noise abatement. These procedures need to be published or at least recorded on the sba phone number; when calling after hours; so pilots are aware so they can avoid future complaints from the city of santa barbara.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A flight instructor reported being informed that a city noise abatement altitude had not been met. The pilot was not informed of the noise abatement restrictions nor were any procedures found following the notification.

Narrative: I was a flight instructor planning an IFR flight with a client who has a Private Pilot rating. Plan was to file and conduct an IFR training flight for the Private Pilot. I have a CFII rating also. IFR flight plan was to Santa Barbara Muni (SBA); CA. The IFR flight plan was filed and weather and NOTAMS for SBA and route of flight were checked. I was in the right seat as an instructor while the Private Pilot flew left seat. ATIS from SBA was received airborne and Information was current with wind 110 at 9 knots; visibility 10 miles; ceiling 3500 BKN and altimeter 29.92. At approximately 22NM from SBA and heading about 280 degrees at 4000ft; I checked in with Santa Barbara Approach control and requested the GPS Runway 25 Approach; enter at KWANG intersection; to circle to land on runway 15 because of the prevailing wind from 110 at 9 knots. Approach controller informed me that it would be a 30 minute delay. I could see the city from 20NM with what appeared to be an overcast layer at 2000ft. Field elevation is 10ft. I decided to cancel IFR and proceed VFR. ATC gave me instructions to 'remain VFR and follow the freeway'. The freeway is Highway 101 that runs east to west; along the California coast; through the city of Santa Barbara and bypasses to the north of SBA. We flew as directed and as we approached nearer to SBA; about 10-12 NM from the east; the ceiling appeared lower; about 1500-1800 ft. MSL; and we descended to approximately 1300 ft MSL to adhere to VFR cloud clearance requirements. The flight path took us over the city and we subsequently descended to enter a left base to land on Runway 15 VFR. After being on deck at SBA for 20 minutes we picked up our IFR flight plan back [home airport]. [A few weeks later] I was informed by my Chief Flight Instructor that the owner of [aircraft]; who we lease the aircraft from for flight training; received a letter saying that his plane had descended below the Santa Barbara city ordinance of no lower than 1500 ft over the city. Reported altitude was 1300 ft and the ordinance is in place due to noise abatement. I admitted to being in that aircraft and described to him the facts previously stated. I asked my Chief Flight Instructor if I was being flight violated and he said no. We just deviated from a Santa Barbara city ordinance by being 200 ft lower than we should have been. I informed him that I checked NOTAMS before flight and inflight Approach control and SBA Tower never informed us of the no lower than 1500ft altitude limit. So how is a pilot supposed to know? Recently I called the phone number given in the FAA Southwest Flight Information Publication. This number is listed to call for noise abatement procedures. Outside of normal working hours you get a voicemail from the airport manager but it does not give a recording for noise abatement procedures. I also checked online on the AIRNAV website; looked up SBA; and NOTAMS on the Defense Internet NOTAM Service website. Again; nowhere on these sites does it specify in detail what the noise abatement procedures are for SBA and the no lower than 1500ft altitude limit. As stated; I [had] checked with FSS and also the AIRNAV and NOTAM websites for SBA procedures and did not see anything specific to noise abatement. These procedures need to be published or at least recorded on the SBA phone number; when calling after hours; so pilots are aware so they can avoid future complaints from the city of Santa Barbara.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.