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By: - 1st March 2005 at 22:35 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Yes...!
Unless you fly under them with 500' clearance then, No!
Might need a submarine though...
By: - 2nd March 2005 at 09:09 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Unless you fly under them with 500' clearance then, No!
Might need a submarine though...
Is it resonable to fly below 500' agl, bar takeoff and landing, as long as there are no people, houses or vessels?
I wouldn't mind doing some low flying but I'm not too sure on Rule 5 - does it allow flying below 500' as long as there is nothing about?
Looks like you had an intersesting flight steph ;)
DME
By: - 2nd March 2005 at 09:28 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Is it resonable to fly below 500' agl, bar takeoff and landing, as long as there are no people, houses or vessels?I wouldn't mind doing some low flying but I'm not too sure on Rule 5 - does it allow flying below 500' as long as there is nothing about?
Looks like you had an intersesting flight steph ;)
DME
Perfectly legal.
However do choose your area with care. It could be argued that a shepherd's hut or a couple snuggling in some bushes (not that they'd care) would constitute a contravention of the rules.
A safer alternative, but still not legit, is to use the tops of nice fluffy cumulus as your 'terrain' and try flying across that at low level. Digging a wing in will be far less painful.
I would never recommend this though as it almost certainly contravenes the VFR flight rules and could be embarassing if some hapless IMC / IR flyer happened to pop-up through the cloud in front of you.
Moggy
By: - 4th March 2005 at 21:01 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Rule 5 is not CLOSER than 500' from any .... person vehicle vessel or structure (blah).
So, you can fly BELOW 500' so long as you are 500' AWAY horizontally, or diagonally from... blah....
Otherwise, how would display pilots practice legally to below 500' without finding an airfield with a Rule 5 exemption every time??
Rivers are a good bet. Easy to spot obstructions on the open water.
Mind the birds though....
By: - 5th March 2005 at 09:15 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Rule 5 is not CLOSER than 500' from any .... person vehicle vessel or structure (blah).So, you can fly BELOW 500' so long as you are 500' AWAY horizontally, or diagonally from... blah....
Otherwise, how would display pilots practice legally to below 500' without finding an airfield with a Rule 5 exemption every time??
Rivers are a good bet. Easy to spot obstructions on the open water.
Mind the birds though....
Really low flying over water brings its own dangers, judging height over smooth water is notoriously difficult.
Don't forget that a boat counts as a structure (or is is a vehicle?), so unless the river is more than 500ft wide....
Posts: 108
By: Steph - 1st March 2005 at 15:34 - Edited 2nd October 2019 at 11:40
Plan the flight and fly the plan
(At the club, instructors with twisted humour)
-Have you got your passport with you?
-Hum, no. Why?
-Well, you're going to Wales, with your accent they may not allow you to land!
Ah, ah. Very funny... In any case, if they were to give me any grief, I would remind these Welsh people their victory against France at the sixth nations and I'm sure they'd be happy to let me in, now that they don't fear us anymore!
So, the question is "Are you or are you not letting me go?"
The TAFs look alright. Ok there is a strong wind warning but so far I could take off. Shobdon reports light wind. A few clouds are building up but, but, but, but...
IT'S A GO! :D
(at least we could always turn back if we didn't like it up there)
Despite the crossing of the Bristol Channel taking only 15min, I decided to take some lifejackets and a dingy, which I had never used before. As long as I remember NOT to pull that handle inside the aircraft, I should be fine.
And there we walk to our metal sky bird, shiny, fuelled up and ready to fly us where the dream of a pilot went some days ago. The temperatures are close to zero despite the sun. It's a day for our brothers in heat Carb and Pitot.
"G-FR, ready for departure runway 07"
"G-FR, nothing to affect you in the circuit. Surface wind is 050, 12knots"
"Roger, G-FR"
Leg 1: Thruxton-Shobdon
Quite a delightful flight in fact: Malborough forest, the white horses (Pewsey, Devizes,...), Bath, Yate. There are some clouds, yes but they're scattered around 2500-3000ft and the sun is shining.
The ATCs are very helpful and all seem to want us to transit through their MATZ and controlled airspaces... Which is not always the case but we're not taking any shortcuts: we want to enjoy every single mile of the flight, as planned.
Hey, here is the Severn and its bridges. I wonder if anyone has already flown under the bridges themselves. Would that be forbidden by the rules of the air? The only traffic we come across is a Grob above us. The air is nice and smooth.
"En route vers Hereford!". Say bye bye to Bristol, say hello to Gloucester and... Hum, the clouds are somehow thicker over there. Overhead Hereford, we change to Shobdon.
We hear:
"Shobdon, GXXXX, it's snowing now, we rejoining for landing."
Ah.
As I'm reflecting on the fact that I have never flown in snow and am wondering what it's like, we find ourselves surrounded by white flakes.
Rain, yes. Hectic winds, yes. Fog, to some extent but snow??? Am I likely to have icing on the wings? I check the struts. All clear. Maybe a good time to put the carb heat on for a bit. We keep on hearing people in the circuit doing touch and goes. The visibility is definitely bad, though we seem to be able to go round the main shower by the East and we finally reach Leominster overhead, about 10 miles from the airfield.
Where's my sunshine from 10 minutes ago?
Decision time. Should I stay or Should I go? We are so close. Yes but we could get stuck there. Come on, the TAF didn't forecast snow for the whole day. Make positive decisions. There are other aircrafts in the circuit. There is a patch of clearish sky towards the airfield, the snow is lighter. We're going.
Airfield in rough sight. Descend on the dead side. The fields are all white and we are supposed to find a white house to respect the noise abatment procedures... Fortunately there is one contact ahead that seems to be local and doing touch and goes.
At least the wind is light and we touch down smoothly, as the snow flakes become thicker and thicker. Now, let's deal with the Welsh!
(at the club)
"Would you allow me to compliment you on your English? asks a pilot.
-Huh, yes, huh, thank you.
-I'm Welsh and I wish my French was as good as your English."
Well, that's not bad for a welcome! What was there to worry about these people? Then the man continues...
-But again if your English is good, we can't say the same about your rugby!"
Ah. I was expecting this one. Yes, we lost. Ok. Now let's get a cup of tea.
Starring helplessly at the window and the snow flakes, I'm beginning to doubt the "positive" side of my decision and start imagining what to do and to say back at the club, should we have to stay.
Let's call Swansea. After all the flight may not be over, it may clear up and Santa may exist! Swansea unexpectedly reports good weather, 4000-5000ft could base, good viz, nosig. That would almost makes me believe that I got the number wrong and called Acapulco because from here, it's a blooming snow storm!
At least I am in good company. We take time to review the pictures we took en route, compliment to my girlfriend. Funny enough there aren't any from when we started hitting snow. I think she was a bit uneasy on that one.
15 minutes later the snow has stopped by magic. Hurray. But the clouds are still there towards Swansea. It's getting clearer to the East. Hum, another decision time. As the weather seems to improve we decide to give it another 15-30 minutes before going. We'll take off and see how high we can go: we wouldn't want to kiss too many mountains on the way. If worse comes to worse we could try to join Swansea via Hereford and then Cardiff rather than directly...or would we?
(To be continued with more pictures!)
pic1. Overhead Bath
pic2. Really Overhead
pic3. View of the bridge
pic4. The brown Severn
pic5. Still nice before Hereford
pic6. Snowing in Shobdon