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Low flying

R

randombloke

Student Pilot
#4
#4
A person was shooting the video... so it's going to be a hard one to defend...

Very much a Daily Fail MO.

Pilots are a very small minority and easy to characterise as privileged, lacking in empathy, entitled and idle rich. An easy target for sensationalist headlines.

You only have to ask those who over the years were characterised as hand bag thieves, sexual predators or feckless individuals obsessed with expensive cars at the cost of looking after their families.

The CAA will be backed into a corner by allegations of ineffectiveness if nothing is done, if it gets pursued, and news is slow in January 2021.

100m further out and it would have been defend-able.

However, this is hindsight so no help if something does go ahead.

Wishing them luck, as the evidence is not good.
 
G

ginge

First Solo Pilot
#5
#5
As much as I love the Blackwater the first one does look a tad low and bit close to what is probably the only bloke in miles. Although a goodly number of years back there was a Cessna that made a habit of the same thing, frequently enough that rivers users used to look out for him. Unfortunatly on one occaision he misjudged and failed to clear the seawall when he pulled up and ended in a tangled heap in a field. An uncertain recollecton is that he was badly knocked about and his passenger died, but that is a very old memory.
 
MadamBreakneck

MadamBreakneck

Student Pilot
#6
#6
Mike Calvert said:
the 500ft separation rule is not only vertical, but horizontal too?
Click to expand...
It's a bubble of radius 500ft.
Martin, advice I had was that the sea wall probably wouldn't count, of itself, but of course the cameraman classifies as a person.
Doubtless the unnamed shocked birdwatcher was paid for this video by the Daily Mail

NB chaps. When posting on forums it's not unknown to find oneself unwittingly quoted by a tabloid newspaper sometime later ("on an internet chat site frequented by pilots of planes like this...")
 
R

randombloke

Student Pilot
#7
#7
I fervently hope that this just disappears, for the benefit of all concerned except the rabloids in question.

Rabloid:

Portmanteau word - made up of rabid and tabloid.
 
Dave Morton

Dave Morton

Student Pilot
#8
#8
I recieved a letter from a bird sanctuary warden for low flying years ago after crossing the Wash heading to the old Cromer airfield, the bird sanctuaries that are along that coastline were not marked on the maps back then so we're unknown to us and a bird watcher reported me to a warden saying he saw me through binoculars and that I was below 500ft.
I recieved the letter with these details plus a paragraph saying that I would be reported to the CAA if it happened again, I immediately answered quoting the 500ft rule and stating that I would display on the map in the clubhouse the area for the bird sanctuary so we could avoid it as it wasn't common knowledge to pilots, a few days later a letter arrived thanking me for my understanding and the explanation of the 500ft rule.
 
F

Frank Dimmock

Student Pilot
#9
#9
How does a pilot stand if they didn't know or reasonably suspect there was a person on the wall recording the video and they assessed the sea-wall as not being a structure per the 500ft rule?

Usual sensationalism from the tabloid rags who appeal to the unknowing and uncaring masses.

Unfortunately, they do look a bit close and I suspect they could have a hard time proving otherwise. However lets hope the issue isn't taken further.
 
G

ginge

First Solo Pilot
#11
#11
Frank Dimmock said:
How does a pilot stand if they didn't know or reasonably suspect there was a person on the wall recording the video and they assessed the sea-wall as not being a structure per the 500ft rule?
Click to expand...
Interesting that, that area of the seawall is normaly deserted, as someone who used to operate a boat often close to that that place I don't ever, in many years, recall seeing anybody there. Knowing the area pretty well I'd say it was chosen to be as far from people and structures as possible, they just got unlucky first that anyone was there at all and secondly that person was a camara lugging publicity seeker.
 
Dave Morton

Dave Morton

Student Pilot
#13
#13
I think that when the general public sees a flexwing skimming the water there's a degree of "acceptance" as long as they're not too close, certainly the case we found last year when we flew the whole of the east coast low over the water to East Fortune, (risk assessed of course) with people waving as they messed on the beaches.
There seems to be less acceptance of a fixed wing doing the same as this type of aircraft is usually seen 2k above the publics head.
The video does look close but photo/video evidence is nowadays always questionable due to imaging software and the ability to alter original footage.
 
F

Frank Dimmock

Student Pilot
#14
#14
Dave Morton said:
I think that when the general public sees a flexwing skimming the water there's a degree of "acceptance" as long as they're not too close, certainly the case we found last year when we flew the whole of the east coast low over the water to East Fortune, (risk assessed of course) with people waving as they messed on the beaches.
There seems to be less acceptance of a fixed wing doing the same as this type of aircraft is usually seen 2k above the publics head.
The video does look close but photo/video evidence is nowadays always questionable due to imaging software and the ability to alter original footage.
Click to expand...
Maybe because the general public don't understand flexwings are aircraft and the same rules apply as to fixed-wing. Ignorance is bliss until they get the chance of some easy money from the sensationalist rags and fame for 15 minutes.

I hope the CAA would look kindly and maybe at worst give a word of advice to the appropriate pilots if it should go that far - hopefully not😬
 
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