Ultralight rotorcraft

Jose wrote in news:gATje.3808$VS6.969
@newssvr19.news.prodigy.com:

y'know, i have not really heard or read any kind of usable guidlines of
what "congested" and "over" mean. people can tell you like, "not over a
stadium" or something; anecdotal kinda stuff but nothing very useful in
finding the limits and exceptions.

that citation does not seem to have the 500 and 1000ft limits in it so
i suppose you can fly the thing 100ft over the streets of new york all
you want as long as you're careful to observe pedestrian crossings and
not exceed the undefined "congestion-limit".

At a recent safety seminar, it was held that "congested" could easily be
construed to mean "over a freeway in the middle of nowhere", and it was
stated by the person doing the seminar that flying the Hudson Corridor
is technically illegal because you can't apply the "500 feet away" rule
since NY is congested (never mind that we're over the Hudson River,
which is a mile wide). He also stated that the FAA has a "look the
other way" policy on that particular corridor.

I don't buy this, but I'm just a private pilot and they are the FAA.

Jose

Some very good points. Thanks.

From my point of view in the city, I don't see how flying one of
these things over the town would be any more or less a danger to
those below than any other aircraft. But I fully realize that the
rules don't always conform to logic and/or reason.

If I had the bucks, I'd snag one. But I'd hate to have to drive 50
miles out of town just to be allowed to fly it. I have a feeling
the definition of congested has a lot to do with citizen complaints.
If no one complains, it's ok. But somehow I don't think flying a
hundred feet over peoples houses in Anaheim in a dinky little
ultralight is going to go unnoticed and unaddressed for very long.
Hell, the media would probably twist it into a terrorist threat
for the evening news.

As an aside, I recall many years ago, way back in the 80's, that
the city of Long Beach CA tested the use of ultralights for
police work. If my memory hasn't gone wacky I recall a picture
of this in a National Geographic.

Brian
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