Always be prepared for the unexpected. Flying my Inspire 1 around six years ago, flew out to take a photo of a cargo ship. Aircraft was less than 10m above the surface of the sea. I was actually flying higher that the aircraft when returning back to the shore. Gave me a scare, heard the plane approaching, that’s why I turned back towards the sea before landing the Inspire. Be careful you never know what could happen, I dread to think if that aircraft had hit my Inspire. Or should I say my inspire hit the plane.
The RAF used to have vey low level routes 250 feet AGL for training on low level attacks.( They mainly avoided built up areas)
… Not sure whether they have them now.
They can fly down to 250 feet anywhere except large urban areas, any time they want. There are three dedicated Tactical Training Areas where they can go down to 100 feet.
There’s a map here which shows the areas they are supposed to avoid, the TTAs, and areas often used for low helicopter flights (which of course can go right down to ground level):
Yes I think you are right, several folks mentioned this on another forum I shared my video with. I always though they couldn’t go under 500ft and drones restricted to 400ft keeping a 100ft separation distance. This was also mention in training for my A2 C of C exam, makes you wonder. The pilot was coming out of class D airspace at that height, I was flying right on the edge of Class D airspace at Collieston Aberdeenshire. One of my favourite flying sites, I make sure I have better all round vision now, although on hearing the plane I would have dropped down from around 40m probably right into his flightpath.
Under Visual Flight Rules in the UK, they can fly as low as they like outside congested areas, but not within 500 ft of vessels, structures, people etc.
Certainly being discussed in the USA, I believe this is still being discussed along with revised drone regs by the FAA. The cost looks prohibitive, size & weight & power consumption could be an issue.
I totally agree with you @lesmess about always being prepared for the unexpected. I had my own close call with a couple of very low flying typhoons last December. I posted about it at the time. It does give you one hell of a fright when an aircraft(s) just suddenly appear from nowhere!!
The unmanned Airspeeder Mk2 (pictured) craft soared 8,000ft up into a flight path for Gatwick Airport before crashing feet away from houses in Chichester (bottom right) after ground crew lost control of its flying car’s systems. A report by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch said 200 people watching the test flight from a roof terrace near Goodwood Festival of Speed were ordered to ‘take cover’ inside the building as the craft fell back down at 60mph after its ‘battery depleted’. The AAIB criticised the makers and crew managing the craft, saying it ‘was not designed, built or tested to any recognisable standards’, despite manufacturers claiming it had been built to ‘the highest standards’.
