Private Helicopter / Flightrader

[the cueball]

Thought I would ask on here as I’m curious.

We have a couple of locals who have helicopters, one of them has suddenly started flying it very low, I would guess 100ft or so above everyone’s homes in the town.

The flight last night was erratic at best.

There is nothing showing up on flightrader app about these trips, so I was wondering if you’re allowed to fly without logging it ‘somewhere’ and if you’re allowed to fly so low over a town/houses.

[FlyVintage]

Flights don’t have to be logged, but the minimum altitude over built up areas is 1,000ft unless in approach to land or climb out after takeoff.

Anecdotally, it’s pretty difficult to determine an aircraft’s altitude from the ground (and pretty near impossible for a non flying member of the public to get even close to the actual figure).

[the cueball]

Thanks, could the take off/landing be argued to take place over the town, or would they have to go as vertical as possible then fly over?

They have plenty of fields to complete getting to the correct height and have always done so until recently.

[48k]

the cueball said:

Thought I would ask on here as I m curious.

We have a couple of locals who have helicopters, one of them has suddenly started flying it very low, I would guess 100ft or so above everyone s homes in the town.

The flight last night was erratic at best.

There is nothing showing up on flightrader app about these trips, so I was wondering if you re allowed to fly without logging it somewhere and if you re allowed to fly so low over a town/houses.

The aircraft doesn't "log" anything - these apps work by having a network of people who install and operate ADSB-receivers which pick up transponder signals and upload them to a central database which the apps read from.
So - a few reasons why an aircraft might not show up:
1. It's not fitted with a transponder or the transponder is switched off (you don't have to have a transponder on in uncontrolled airspace though it's usually a good idea to do so)
2. There isn't an ADSB receiving station set up near enough by to detect the aircraft
3. The aircraft is too low to be detected
4. The data is being filtered out

Generally I find the "ABDS-Unfiltered" app on Android tends to show up more aircraft than Flight Radar 24 or ADSB Exhange but it's much of a muchness.

In terms of the rules of the air, the low flying rules state not to fly :
- lower than 500 feet to any person, vessel, vehicle or structure
- below a height of 1,000 feet above the highest fixed obstacle within a horizontal radius of 600 metres of the aircraft when over a congested area.
Landing and taking off is exempt from this.

Helicopters don't usually take off straight up as this takes a lot of power and puts a lot of strain through the aircraft because it's climbing up through its own cushion of air. It's more usual to come up off the ground and fly forwards away from your own dirty air and then slowly achieve transitional lift by flying forwards and climbing at the same time which needs less power and puts a lot less strain through the aircraft.

[the cueball]

Thanks for the information..

[Tisy]

the cueball said:

Thanks, could the take off/landing be argued to take place over the town, or would they have to go as vertical as possible then fly over?

They have plenty of fields to complete getting to the correct height and have always done so until recently.

What time was this and what location (village etc) ? It's very likely it/they are operating from a private helipad on their land nearby, which is of course permitted and there's nothing you can do about it other than move.

Generally speaking you won't see low level stuff on flightradar anymore as they blocked MLAT feeds a few years ago now. If anything, it will be a patchy and jagged track bearing little resemblance to its actual path.

[48k]

Tisy said:

It's very likely it/they are operating from a private helipad on their land nearby, which is of course permitted and there's nothing you can do about it other than move.

Depends if they have planning permission or not. If there is no planning permission and assuming it's private not commercial use, the usage subject to the 28 day rule. So the site can be used for take offs and landings for 28 days in the calendar year without needing planning permission.

[the cueball]

Thanks... as I say, I was just curious as it's caused a lot of worry and chat around the town.... It doesn't bother me and I certainly won't be moving..

We've had a helicopter crashing/killing people before, and that one didn't fly above 500ft for the fateful journey, video footage showing it 20-30ft above the trees.

I think some people get a bit nervous when they see it happening again and panic.

[normalbloke]

the cueball said:

Thanks, could the take off/landing be argued to take place over the town, or would they have to go as vertical as possible then fly over?

They have plenty of fields to complete getting to the correct height and have always done so until recently.

The overriding driver in all of this will be wind direction. Most private helicopter pilots rarely have the skill,power reserve or space to arrive and depart other than into wind. Or a combination of all 3.