HELP FAA IDENTIFY UNAUTHORIZED LOW-FLYING AIRCRAFT

Transcription

1 HELP FAA IDENTIFY UNAUTHORIZED LOW-FLYING AIRCRAFT The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is responsible for aviation safety in the United States and its territories. To help ensure the safety of persons and property on the ground and those onboard an unauthorized low-flying aircraft, FAA asks that anyone seeing an unauthorized low-flying aircraft to report that sighting to the nearest FAA Flight Standards District Office (FSDO), the preferred notification point. The telephone for the office may be found in your local telephone directory under U.S. Government. The number may be listed under Transportation, Department or under Federal Aviation Administration. Telephone numbers and addresses of many FAA facilities are listed on the Internet at Check under the listing for FAA Organizations. You can also check in Public Inquiry under Low Flying Aircraft to access FSDO locations. FAA takes any complaint of an alleged violation of a Federal Aviation Regulation seriously. To aid in any investigation, the FAA FSDO aviation safety inspection assigned to the case will require as much information as possible to help identify the aircraft in the alleged incident. The following information will aid in the investigation. Please keep a record of any information you provide FAA. You may want to write out a brief statement describing what you saw before you contact FAA to ensure you can provide as much information as possible and to help you organize the information. If your complaint results in an enforcement action, you may be required to testify or provide a written statement in the case. DESIRED INFORMATION You need to provide FAA as much of the following information as possible. A brief summary of what happened, where did it happen, when did it happen, how did it happen, and who did it, if known, this is important. The FDSO will use the information to determine if a regulatory violation occurred and to help identify and locate the aircraft involved. Please remember that not all low-flying aircraft are in violation of a regulation. LOW-FLYING AIRCRAFT REPORTING CHECKLIST What happened? Describe in detail. What was your estimate of the aircraft s altitude or height? How did you determine this estimate? Where did it happen? Describe the location in detail. When did it happen? Date and time. What were the weather conditions at the time?

2 How many times did the aircraft appear to be low? Did it continue to fly low in the area? What was the direction of flight? Who did it? List the name of the pilot or aircraft owner if known. What was the aircraft s registration number? Other witnesses. List all who witnessed the event. List names telephone numbers, and addresses of known. Were the local police notified? Did a police officer witness the alleged incident? If so, list the name of the police department and telephone number of any officer involved if known. Did you feel threatened? Was more than one aircraft involved? If so, provide data on each aircraft involved. AIRCRAFT IDENTIFICATION AIDS Type aircraft? Fixed wing airplane, helicopter, glider, balloon, airship, ultralight vehicle, seaplane Was it military of civilian? Did you see a registration number? If so, what was it? List any partial numbers if complete number is not known. Was it a high-wing type aircraft or low-wing aircraft? What color was it? Did it have one or more other colors? Did it have any distinct markings, designs, or logos? Was it a jet powered aircraft or piston-powered aircraft? Did it have propellers? How many engines or propellers did it have? How large was the aircraft? If it was a helicopter, how many rotors did it have? If it was a helicopter, how many main rotor blades did it have? Was there anything unusual about the aircraft? SUPPORT DOCUMENTATION Did you take any photographs or video of the event? If so, what type and focal length of lens was used? If a zoom type lens was used, was the lens zoomed in or out? Were you able to zoom in on the aircraft s registration number, if it had one, to help identify the aircraft? Did you try to photograph or video the aircraft against a background that would show height such as against a tall building, tower, hill, mountain, or other such object to aid in determining the aircraft s altitude? Please note, it is preferable to photograph the aircraft using a normal lens setting to avoid any misleading sized images caused by the compressive effects of a zoom or telephoto lens setting beyond the normal lens setting for the type of camera used.

3 If an object is included in the photograph or video to help show the aircraft s height, do you know the object s height? If you photographed or videotaped the aircraft in flight from another aircraft, what was your aircraft s altitude when the photograph was taken or the video was made? If film was used to photograph the aircraft, it is better if the negatives are not cut into smaller sections. You can ask your photo lab not to cut the film. It is important to keep positive control of any type of recording media used to record the incident. THE REGULATION Please note there are instances when an aircraft may be operated in flight below these regulations with proper FAA approval. In addition, there are designated low-level military training routes where military aircraft may operate from the surface up to a specified altitude in visual and instrument meteorological conditions. THE RULE Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations, Section , Minimum safe altitudes, prohibits low flying except under the following conditions: Sec Minimum safe altitudes: General. Except when necessary for takeoff or landing, no person may operate an aircraft below the following altitudes: (a) Anywhere. An altitude allowing, if a power unit fails, an emergency landing without undue hazard to persons or property on the surface. (b) Over congested areas. Over any congested area of a city, town, or settlement, or over any open air assembly of persons, an altitude of 1,000 feet above the highest obstacle within a horizontal radius of 2,000 feet of the aircraft. (c) Over other than congested areas. An altitude of 500 feet above the surface, except over open water or sparsely populated areas. In those cases, the aircraft may not be operated closer than 500 feet to any person, vessel, vehicle, or structure. (d) Helicopters. Helicopters may be operated at less than the minimums prescribed in paragraph (b) or (c) of this section if the operation is conducted without hazard to persons or property on the surface. In addition, each person operating a helicopter shall comply with any routes or altitudes specifically prescribed for helicopters by the Administrator. TO REPORT LOW-FLYING AIRCRAFT IN NEW SMYRNA BEACH Call the FAA Flight Standards District Office in Orlando at:

4 Low Flying Aircraft Complaints The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the government agency responsible for aviation safety. We welcome information from citizens that will enable us to take corrective measures including legal enforcement action against individuals violating Federal Aviation Regulations (FAR). It is FAA policy to investigate citizen complaints of low-flying aircraft operated in violation of the FAR, and that might endanger persons or property. To Whom Should You Complain? Within FAA, the Office of Flight Standards monitors aircraft operations. Locally, Flight Standards inspectors work in a Flight Standards District Office (FSDO). See below for the office nearest you. If no FSDO is listed, call any FAA facility: they can give you this information. "The facts, Ma 'am, the facts!" Before contacting the FSDO, remember that the FAA is a safety organization with legal enforcement responsibilities. So we will need facts before we conduct an investigation. To save time, please have this information ready when you call. And do keep your notes: we may request a written statement. Here is the type of information we need: Identification - Can you identify the aircraft? Was it military or civil? Was it a high-or low-wing aircraft? Did you record the registration number which appears on the fuselage? (On U.S. registered aircraft, that number will be preceded with a capital ''N.") Time and place - Exactly when did the incident(s) occur? Where did this happen? What direction was the aircraft flying? What was the color? Altitude - How high (low) was the aircraft flying? On what do you base your estimate? Was the aircraft level with or below the elevation of a prominent object such as a tower or building? Did you obtain photographs? Are there any witnesses who could confirm your estimate - do you have their names, addresses, telephone numbers? Supporting Evidence: Witnesses, Police, Photographs Do you know of any other witnesses? The more the better. Do you have their names, addresses? They may be contacted. Are local police aware of the problem? While they have limited authority in aviation matters, police officers are considered ''trained observers" by the courts and their written statements or reports make excellent evidence should our enforcement action go to trial. If you took photographs, we need to know the lens used, and the height of any identifiable landmarks that appear. What FAA Will Do Once we have the appropriate facts, an FAA aviation safety inspector from the local FSDO will attempt to identify the offending aircraft operator. We can do this in several ways. For example, we can check aircraft flight records with our air traffic control information and/or sightings from other observers, such as local law enforcement officers.

5 We may need to trace and contact the registered aircraft owner, since the owner and operator may be two different people. Do you want feedback? FAA welcomes assistance in identifying and prosecuting all violations of the Federal Aviation Regulations. Citizens complaining about low-flying aircraft will, upon request, be advised of the final results of the FAA investigation: be sure to give the FSDO your name, address and telephone numbers where you can be reached at home and at work. If further information is required, please write: Community and Consumer Liaison Division, APA- 200, Federal Aviation Administration, Washington, D.C During regular duty hours (7:30 a.m. - 4:0O p.m., Eastern Time, Monday through Friday), telephone (202) This is the FAR If you're interested, shown below is Title 14, Code of Federal Regulations, Section of the General Operating and Flight Rules which specifically prohibits low-flying aircraft Minimum safe altitudes; general Except when necessary for takeoff or landing, no person may operate an aircraft below the following altitudes; (a) Anywhere. An altitude allowing, if a power unit fails, an emergency landing without undue hazard to persons or property on the surface. (b) Over congested areas. Over any congested area of a city, town, or settlement, or over any open air assembly of persons, an altitude of 1,000 feet above the highest obstacle within a horizontal radius of feet of the aircraft. (c) Over other than congested areas. An altitude of 500 feet above the surface except over open water or sparsely populated areas. In that case, the aircraft may not be operated closer than 500 feet to any person, vessel, vehicle, or structure. (d) Helicopters. Helicopters may be operated at less than the minimums prescribed In paragraph (b) or (c) of this section if the operation is conducted without hazard to persons or property on the surface. In addition, each person operating a helicopter shall comply with routes or altitudes specifically prescribed for helicopters by the Administrator. Helicopter operations may be conducted below the minimum altitudes set for fixed-wing aircraft. The reason? The helicopter's unique operating characteristics, the most important of which is its ability to execute pinpoint emergency landings during power failure. Further, the helicopter's increased use by law enforcement and emergency medical service agencies requires added flexibility in the application of many FAA provisions.