It depends. Was the DC-3 in the act of landing or practicing a forced
landing? If so, then it's legel to break Rule 5. Also, airplanes,
especially bigger ones, often appear to be a lot lower than they actually
are and the human eyeball is actually a pretty poor judge of distance
without comparisons. Could you read the registration number? If not, then
chances are he was at least 300+ feet as the size of UK registration
markings are designed to be read from a minimum of 300 feet.

It also depends on the clearances. As long as he was laterally 500 feet
away from the building/chimney, and not over any other manmade objects, then
he was OK. As I understand it, if you could find a path across the country
with no people or buildings in it, you can fly as low as you want as long as
you're more than 500 feet away from everything. Not that I've actually
tried it, and it's an extreme interpretation open to argument, but you get
the idea.

And finally I don't want to condone behavior by a fellow aviator which could
be construed as dangerous, foolish, or un-neighborly, if he was in fact any
of the above.

Shawn
"newsman" wrote in message
news:1251490.POZPDN3Knx@loopback...
On Monday 15 September 2003 13:45 Martin Evans wrote:

"ShawnD2112" wrote:

The general rule, known as Rule 5 of the Air Navigation Order, requires
500
feet above any person, building, or structure, and 1500 feet above built
up
areas. There are other limits that apply to crowds (like football
games)
and tall structures, but those are the basics.

Thanks Shawn,

So when I witnessed a DC3 banking at about the level of a 200ft high
chimney located adjacent to a 10 storey building then this act was a
"bit" illegal then? ;-)

There's an exception for DC3s. They may do whatever they wish.



(Sunday 16:35 hours, the building being a major hospital located in a
town in the north of England)

The nearest airfields (hard surfaced) are some 10-15 miles away, but
many years ago we had a local grass field and the base leg was more or
less above our house and I maybe saw a hundred approaches over a
weekend in summer by 172's etc so I guess that would be around
1000-1500ft.

Coincidentally a police helicopter passed over an hour or so after the
DC3 at what I guess to be about 1000ft (I could read the Police
registration clearly, white on black characters helped) OK so I'm
guessing on the chimney height but it would be 300ft max based on
others that used to be in the area that I did know the exact height
of.

Personally I thought it was a suicide mission, having never seen a
manoeuvre that close to the ground by such a large aircraft even at an
air display. Then, just when I thought it was all over he came back
and did it all over again and then headed south never to be seen
again.


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