Flying low and close to houses in a rural setting

[Salty]

As the details slowly come out...? The details remain the same. We have a pilot who flew his plane within 6 feet of the water vertically (below my roofline) and within 80 feet of my house (50 feet within my neighbors) horizontally. He was not landing and there is no suitable location to do so in that section of river. As others have pointed out, flying that low is in violation of FAA rules.

I openly stated earlier that I view this both as a nuisance and a safety issue. Would you call it safe and not annoying if someone flew an airplane down the middle of your street, equally close to your house, equally below the roof line of your home and without landing? I'd like to understand why you feel his behavior is illegal but acceptable.




Yeah, I'm aware that a plane of that size will not create a crater -- that part was just a joke. My point is that he's flying so low and so close that no one can see him on approach and have no idea what is rapidly/loudly approaching -- which causes alarm about what's about to happen. A bunch of non-aviators on the ground aren't going to think "Oh don't worry, that's the sound of a small two-seater single engine aircraft! It's not gonna create a crater if it crashes!"

We get a lot of hysterical people making claims similar to yours and they normally are not real issues. A good example is when a neighborhood is built next to an airport that's been there for 60 years and then the new home owners start making complaints about the planes buzzing their houses.

This happens A LOT.

So, please forgive any skepticism shown. 80 feet is not very far, and frankly it sounds like an exaggeration. An average plane's wings are almost 1/2 that distance, so was the plane really so close you couldn't fit two planes between it and your house?

Most certainly if the plane was 80 feet from your houses physical structure, you have every right not to like it. Even then, it may still be legal, but it's certainly not polite, and the vast majority of us on this site would never consider doing such a thing even if it were legal.

Here's a picture of my driveway, which is about 80 feet long. Which means planes taxi on it 80 feet from my house every day. So I kinda have an idea what you're talking about. If someone flew full speed down my road, I'd be upset about it too.

But the plane in the picture has wings that are 36 feet wide. Was it really that close? You'd literally be able to hit it with a rock.

 

[Salty]

All that said, even if it was 400 feet, you certainly have a right not to appreciate it. And hopefully the pilot will respect that.

 

[Lindberg]

We get a lot of hysterical people making claims similar to yours and they normally are not real issues. A good example is when a neighborhood is built next to an airport that's been there for 60 years and then the new home owners start making complaints about the planes buzzing their houses.

This happens A LOT.

So, please forgive any skepticism shown. 80 feet is not very far, and frankly it sounds like an exaggeration. An average plane's wings are almost 1/2 that distance, so was the plane really so close you couldn't fit two planes between it and your house?

Most certainly if the plane was 80 feet from your houses physical structure, you have every right not to like it. Even then, it may still be legal, but it's certainly not polite, and the vast majority of us on this site would never consider doing such a thing even if it were legal.

Here's a picture of my driveway, which is about 80 feet long. Which means planes taxi on it 80 feet from my house every day. So I kinda have an idea what you're talking about. If someone flew full speed down my road, I'd be upset about it too.

But the plane in the picture has wings that are 36 feet wide. Was it really that close? You'd literally be able to hit it with a rock.

View attachment 131461

If the wingspan is 36', then there'd only be 18' on either side of the river center. So 62' from the wingtip to the house. Twenty yards is way too close, but it's not touch distance.

 

[SoonerAviator]

As the details slowly come out...? The details remain the same. We have a pilot who flew his plane within 6 feet of the water vertically (below my roofline) and within 80 feet of my house (50 feet within my neighbors) horizontally. He was not landing and there is no suitable location to do so in that section of river. As others have pointed out, flying that low is in violation of FAA rules.

I openly stated earlier that I view this both as a nuisance and a safety issue. Would you call it safe and not annoying if someone flew an airplane down the middle of your street, equally close to your house, equally below the roof line of your home and without landing? I'd like to understand why you feel his behavior is illegal but acceptable.




Yeah, I'm aware that a plane of that size will not create a crater -- that part was just a joke. My point is that he's flying so low and so close that no one can see him on approach and have no idea what is rapidly/loudly approaching -- which causes alarm about what's about to happen. A bunch of non-aviators on the ground aren't going to think "Oh don't worry, that's the sound of a small two-seater single engine aircraft! It's not gonna create a crater if it crashes!"

But you know what an airplane sounds like, so "no idea what's rapidly/loudly approaching" seems a bit disingenuous. Same goes for hearing a muscle car or loud motorcycle screaming past your house (probably 80 feet away as well). I doubt you go tracking the car/motorcycle driver down because they were noisy and you had no idea what it was. Not meaning any offense at all, but this strikes me as more of an issue with someone disturbing your peaceful "back yard" every now and then and you want something done about it. It's not really about the safety of the residents or protection of wildlife/kayakers/etc. We are pilots here, so we generally would love to see an airplane flying down our street, noisy or otherwise. However, if one was flying down my street below my rooftop I'd have to assume he's crashing because there isn't 30' between the trees on either side of the road, lol. We do have a number of powered parachute guys who are frequently barely above tree top level in our neighborhood, but again, most of us think it's cool and go grab the kids to point it out.

The pilot may be in violation of FAA rules, and if they don't respond to your request to knock it off you can certainly file the complaint with the FAA.