Is the pilot of the airplane crazy? I am so lucky!!

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So I just finished installing the new HDMI board on my controller and decided to sit outback in my driveway and fly my P3 straight up for a little testing. Started up and everything seemed fine. Started to get a little altitude maybe about 75 to 80 feet, when I could hear a really load airplane come over my house from behind me.

So I stopped going up and turned around and a what looked like a C-130 comes flying right over my house. My first thought was this guy is in trouble, I don't live by and airport so this in eleven years has never happened. I know there was an air show to the north of me this weekend so maybe this guy is going back home. Or headed back to Colorado Springs.

But here is the crazy part, he was only about 350 to maybe 400 feet above me! I was just about to go straight up that high and get a shot of the sunset. Wow this is crazy, I mean I was looking right straight at the belly of his aircraft. After he went over I shot some quick video and here is a crop from the video.

Not sure why a C-130 can fly that low over a residential area, but whatever! LOL

Low-Aircraft.jpg
 
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Looks like a good bit more than 350 - 400 feet to me. More like 700. But it's late and my eyes are grainy.
 
I see purple in the distance. You have a fire in the area? Planes like that have been an everyday thing here with the largest fire in the US right now just 20 miles south of me. They seem to all fly below what is the normal elevation.
 

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A C-130 isn't as big as a 747, but it is probably larger than you think. So, it might appear to be flying lower and slower to you than it really is. The wing span of the C-130 is about 130 feet. If it were just 300 feet above you, it would appear really huge and really noisy.

I used to live in a house that backed up to the forest surrounding Hurlburt Field in Florida. Sometimes C-130s would fly over low enough for me to be able see them in detail - down to the tread on their tires. But, I think they were still more than 500 feet in the air.

-- Roger
 
That's normal by me but I have 5 airports in a 30 mile radius.
 
Goes to show how we humans are horrible at judging distance especially when it is up.
 
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Like I said before the photo I took was after he was already pulling up. But my point still stands, he flew low over my house and right on top of me as I was going straight up with my bird. Kind of scary.
 
Like I said before the photo I took was after he was already pulling up. But my point still stands, he flew low over my house and right on top of me as I was going straight up with my bird. Kind of scary.
Sounds like knows someone nearby. It's a common thing for pilots to buzz the home "tower".

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They need to be equally responsible if not more that's reckless and irresponsible and if this was the case his future as a pilot revoked and have it where he never flys again. And he Should be reported. Pilots saying they have seen drones get reported which is B/ S. I my option Try reading their N number at a reasonable distance its printed bigger than our drone are good luck!
 
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So I just finished installing the new HDMI board on my controller and decided to sit outback in my driveway and fly my P3 straight up for a little testing. Started up and everything seemed fine. Started to get a little altitude maybe about 75 to 80 feet, when I could hear a really load airplane come over my house from behind me.

So I stopped going up and turned around and a what looked like a C-130 comes flying right over my house. My first thought was this guy is in trouble, I don't live by and airport so this in eleven years has never happened. I know there was an air show to the north of me this weekend so maybe this guy is going back home. Or headed back to Colorado Springs.

But here is the crazy part, he was only about 350 to maybe 400 feet above me! I was just about to go straight up that high and get a shot of the sunset. Wow this is crazy, I mean I was looking right straight at the belly of his aircraft. After he went over I shot some quick video and here is a crop from the video.

Not sure why a C-130 can fly that low over a residential area, but whatever! LOL

Low-Aircraft.jpg
In this picture he is well over 1000 feet easily.
 
It's called the Moon Illusion. Objects appear larger than they really are when viewed alongside other objects. Large military aircraft fly directly over our municipal golf course at what seems like under 500 feet. However, every time I pull out the Bushnell Rangefinder, they scope out at well over 1000 yards on the laser, which doesn't lie! Objects may be a lot farther away than they appear! :cool:
 
I have a Air reserve base about 10 miles away that flys C-130's

On any given day I can have flights of 3 or more aircraft far lower than that one running low level mission practice.

It does make for thoughtful flying.
 

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