On Tue, 2 Jan 2007 20:05:30 -0600, Doug Spencer
wrote:

How about it's congested if you couldn't make an emergency landing
without hitting a person, vessel, vehicle, or structure while flying
below the minimum required in a congested area? Seems like a reasonable,
pragmatic way to think about the subject and probably fairly close to
the intent.

That's about half of it... but at least as far as ultralights (powered
paragliders in this case) are concerned, the FAA interpreted a busy 4
lane highway with clear fields on each side a "congested area"
(ultralights have NO minimum altitude, but can't fly over a "congested
area" at ANY altitude). I see the interpretation as not only "can you
land safely", but also "if anything falls off the machine will it be
likely to injure anybody on the ground?"

Somebody else mentioned the yellow areas on charts. They represent
the lighted portion of cities at night, not specifically congested
areas (though most of those areas would doubtless be considered
"congested").

-Dana
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