Safe Distance

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I totally agree that we must avoid all manned aircraft, no matter how low they are flying, but here at the coast we get a lot of paraplanes, parachutes powered by props strapped to the back of pilots and I would love to get a shot of them flying... and they fly low and very slow. My question is, what is considered a safe distance to maintain between my UAV and a manned aircraft?
 
As you are not going to be aware of their intended flight path and what direction they might turn I'd stay at least 500 if not 1,000 ft away. I'd co-ordinate with them to get some nice shots closer.
 
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FAA instructs commercial pilots to not fly directly in the path of, directly over, or under any manned aircraft.

The general rule is all manned aircraft have the right of way, so in theory, you should be getting away from or landing to avoid interference.
 
Out of curiosity, do they fly slower than a Phantom's top speed? (Genuinely don't know, but it could make for some cool shots, although I agree with coordinating if you're going to be that close.)
 
91.111 Operations near other aircraft states in part the following:

(a) No person may operate an aircraft so close to another aircraft as to create a collision hazard.

(b) No person may operate an aircraft in formation flight except by arrangement with the pilot in command of each aircraft in the formation.

Now part 91 does not apply to us but I think you could take from it guidance for best, most conservative, practices. Visit the spot they launch from. Talk to them and get to know a little something about what and how they fly. Mention that you take aerial photography and you've been wondering if anyone else might be interested in setting up some shots. Ask if you can take them somewhere to show them what you do and the measures you take to ensure other NAS users safety.

The torrey pines glider port has a full mix of para and hang gliders as well as RC gliders. They have been doing this safely for years with a joint agreement all parties agree to honor.

Intentionally getting close enough to a manned aircraft that the pilot could see a small quad with no former notification would likely not get a positive response. For a phantom I'd guess that distance would be anything less than about 1000 feet.
 
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It would be classed as formation flight, where you and the pilot of the paraglider would need to establish the parameters of the flight and would need to be in constant radio contact. If I were you, I would stay far from anything else in the air. Once I was in the air with my Phantom at the same time as two paragliders came flying into the same area, so I hit the deck (down to an altitude of like 4-5 meters) and flew home avoiding the paragliders as much as I could.

BTW, once I flew my airplane (real plane) near my home (300 meters AGL) and realized that I had just the day before been flying my drone exactly at the same spot and at the same altitude. It was a pretty scary realization.
 
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