This is even better..
...from the same journo:
FAA: Stop That, It's Legal!
When feds bow to public opinion over the regs, something's wrong.
By Robert Goyer / Published: Apr 22, 2014
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It must seem that I'm always complaining about the FAA, but the truth be told, the vast majority of our employees there (that's right; they're our employees) are fantastic. From controllers who bend over backwards to get us routings away from the storms to inspectors who go the extra mile to make sure we give it our best shot on our checkrides to directors who are working to bring the agency into the new millennium, there's a lot to like about the FAA.
Then there's this.
I had a photo shoot all set in South Florida with the great folks from Daher Socata to photograph one of their lovely new TBM 900s. Gorgeous plane, different story.
We did the shoot — two of them in fact. One was in the afternoon over the Everglades and the second one was the following morning over the Atlantic Coast near South Beach. Our flight consisted of my photo ship pilot, consummate pro Bruce Moore, our safety pilot, Cesar Eugenio, with photo subject pilot Wayman Luy, a Daher Socata Pilot, and subject plane safety pilot (and Chipmunk owner operator) Michel De Villiers, also of Daher Socata.
The shoots went off great, though we did have to hunt hard for sunlight on a few occasions. Luckily, Bruce has a great nose for good light.
The highlight of the shoots was our circuits of South Beach. We steered well clear of restricted airspace and conducted the mission within full compliance of the FARs.
Which is why what happened the next morning surprised me.
Wayman emailed me the next day saying that an FAA inspector had called him asking about the shoot. The FAA guy, Wayman said, informed him that the FAA's office had gotten phone calls about two airplanes flying close together over the beach.
Now, I am tempted to discuss how desperate for attention or ignorant of the sky above them someone who made such a call has to be. I mean, were they afraid that the two planes didn't see each other as they made turns and remained in perfect formation? Or that the formation was part of a two-light-plane leading edge of a wave of invading Pipers and Cessnas planning to descend upon South Florida? Who knows, maybe they were worried we were snowbirds coming down at exactly the wrong time of year and they wanted to warn us. In any case, every one of those calls was a call that never should have been made.
No, the thing that really got me mad was what the FAA guy asked Wayman to do next. According to Wayman, the inspector said he was fully aware that our flight was perfectly legal, but he asked us that we not do it anyways. Well, at least not over populated areas, which is also perfectly legal as long as you maintain legal altitude, which we did, and then some.
The message I got was, the FAA wanted us not just to obey the FARs but to give up some of our precious airspace and flying freedoms so they wouldn't get any more phone calls from confused citizens.
Um, sorry, but no.
Read more at FAA: Stop That, It's Legal! | Flying Magazine
Yep says it all really...