Low Flying Twin Turbine
Hi,
Every Sat morning a twin turbine helicopter (being f/w my ignorance of heli types is pretty obvious) flies over the school fields in Surrey where I take my son to footie practice. Its low - around 250ft and noisy (not that that bothers me personally).
Being a PPL, a couple of my fellow parents have turned to me and asked "are they allowed to fly that low?". Give than the heli didn't appear to be in a descent, and simply in transit, my first reaction was no; but replied "well, not strictly speaking, but it's a complicated area ATC wise" (being near EGLL). To give you an idea how low, you could clearly make out the figures of the chaps up front.
Clearly, the 500ft rule was being disregarded. It was a built up area and over a school too.
Can someone explain under what circumstances would a heli be allowed to transit at less than 500ft in the Heathrow zone?
Incidentally, it was not a police helicopter - but one of those very plush looking machines; and we regularly see it flying over the same point.
Just curious.