Aircraft height limits?

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Out flying my P3 to get pictures of a parking lot the High School Seniors have painted and saw 2 airplanes the flew fairly low to my position in that time. I'm flying up to 400' to get a shot of the parking lot. I swear those planes were about that height as well.

What rules do small manned aircraft have to follow for height? Is it above 400'?
 
Out flying my P3 to get pictures of a parking lot the High School Seniors have painted and saw 2 airplanes the flew fairly low to my position in that time. I'm flying up to 400' to get a shot of the parking lot. I swear those planes were about that height as well.

What rules do small manned aircraft have to follow for height? Is it above 400'?


I'm interested to see what the thoughts are here. I live in a heavily traveled metro area and the news choppers run the highways here as if it's their maps to navigate by. Some have to be near that altitude if not lower at times. It's not that I buzz the highways, but I'm in the area at times.
 
Rotor wing aircraft have a much lower limit, and military rotor wing.. we go almost where we want to go.
 
Please people... make my life easier: Unless your asking a question that is specific to the P3, post in the General section. It's really simply.

And if you want to make your life easier, search. Everything you are asking has already been asked and answered in glorious detail... about 800 times. Search. Search. Sssseeeaaaaaaarrrrrrch. Do it.
 
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ianwood, I will use the search function, but often times I get nothing close to what in searching. Perhaps I'm being too specific in my search terms. This isn't the first forum I've ever joined, some have better search features than others. Why does such things as this bother you so much. Understandably the quad rotor hobby has exploded and your getting new members intrigued by it daily. Only my 2 cents worth.
 
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ianwood, I will use the search function, but often times I get nothing close to what in searching. Perhaps I'm being to specific in my search terms, but just dating. This isn't the first forum ever joined, some have better search features than others. Why does such things as this bother you Si much. Understandably the quad rotor hobby has exploded and your getting news members intrigued by it daily. Only my 2 cents worth.
Give this custom search a try. Works great! - https://cse.google.com/cse/publicurl?cx=013095870582081932723:ew374af2o9i
 
Out flying my P3 to get pictures of a parking lot the High School Seniors have painted and saw 2 airplanes the flew fairly low to my position in that time. I'm flying up to 400' to get a shot of the parking lot. I swear those planes were about that height as well.

What rules do small manned aircraft have to follow for height? Is it above 400'?
I have a seasonal camp in the Finger Lakes Region in New York that I fly at quite a bit. I have been buzzed at the camp on more than one occasion where a private single prop aircraft fly within 300' of the surface. The reason they do this is because it happens to be a nudist park. Most likely the aircraft was in violation. Here are the FAA regulations...

Sec. 91.119 — Minimum safe altitudes: General.
Except when necessary for takeoff or landing, no person may operate an aircraft below the following altitudes:


(a) Anywhere. An altitude allowing, if a power unit fails, an emergency landing without undue hazard to persons or property on the surface.

(b) Over congested areas. Over any congested area of a city, town, or settlement, or over any open air assembly of persons, an altitude of 1,000 feet above the highest obstacle within a horizontal radius of 2,000 feet of the aircraft.

(c) Over other than congested areas. An altitude of 500 feet above the surface, except over open water or sparsely populated areas. In those cases, the aircraft may not be operated closer than 500 feet to any person, vessel, vehicle, or structure.

(d) Helicopters, powered parachutes, and weight-shift-control aircraft. If the operation is conducted without hazard to persons or property on the surface—

(1) A helicopter may be operated at less than the minimums prescribed in paragraph (b) or (c) of this section, provided each person operating the helicopter complies with any routes or altitudes specifically prescribed for helicopters by the FAA; and

(2) A powered parachute or weight-shift-control aircraft may be operated at less than the minimums prescribed in paragraph (c) of this section.
 
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