A South Titusville woman says she has been getting an unwanted wake-up call around 5 a.m. for the past two months.
Jeanine Rising calls the mystery aircraft “5 O’Clock Charlie.”
“We started getting woke up at 5:00 in the morning by a plane buzzing overhead,” Rising said. “Almost every single night we’re getting buzzed at 5:00 in the morning.”
Rising has lived near Space Coast Regional Airport since 2012 and said she is accustomed to aircraft and even rocket launches. She said these early-morning flights are different.
Sometimes, Rising said, the aircraft passes only once. Other mornings, she hears three or four passes roughly 10 minutes apart, lasting about half an hour.
She said she has submitted several complaints to the Titusville-Cocoa Airport Authority but has not received an explanation.
So News 6 started looking.
Brevard County Mosquito Control Director Joseph Faella ruled out his agency’s aircraft, saying the reported time and frequency did not match mosquito control operations.
News 6 then reviewed Flightradar24 data.
On Friday morning, the tracking data showed aircraft N2190P passing over Rising’s area around 5:14 a.m. Rising said she was awakened by an especially loud pass at about 5:18 a.m.
News 6 also reviewed Thursday morning’s flights and found N4136P circling above the same area around the time Rising reported hearing the aircraft.
An employee at Volare, a flight school based at Space Coast Regional Airport, confirmed to News 6 that both aircraft are part of the school’s operation.
The employee said pilots fly during those early-morning hours to maintain “nighttime currency,” which refers to federal requirements for pilots to maintain recent nighttime takeoff and landing experience before carrying passengers at night.
Those requirements do not mandate that the flights take place specifically at 5 a.m.
Volare’s owner was not available Friday to answer questions about why the school uses those early-morning hours or whether the flights could be moved later.
News 6 also emailed and left a voicemail with the Titusville-Cocoa Airport Authority but had not received a response as of Friday evening.
Rising said she is simply looking for relief.
“Just get somebody to say, ‘Hey, we’re going to quit doing this,’” she said. “So I can get some sleep.”