The unsuccessful appeal by a Royal Air Force officer convicted by a Courts Martial is useful because it contains the following analysis by (the then) Lord Justice Hooper, a Court of Appeal Judge with considerable expertise in criminal law, on provisions applicable to civil flying:
An interesting comparison can be drawn with the provision in respect of the civilian position with regard to low flying. The position there is governed by the provisions of the Civil Aviation Act 1982 and various regulations made under Sections 60 and 61 of the Act.
The first of those to which my attention has been drawn is the Air Navigation Order 2000. Article 64 creates the offence of Endangering safety of any person or property and provides as follows:
'A person shall not recklessly or negligently cause or permit an aircraft to endanger any person or property
That offence carries a penalty of a fine on summary conviction and a fine or a maximum of two years imprisonment or both on conviction on Indictment. Thus an offence which is equivalent to that created by Section 49 of the Air Force Act 1955 carries with it more limited punishment than it would under those provisions.
The United Kingdom Rules of the Air Regulations 1996 -again made under the general authority of the CAA 1982 -provide for an offence of Low Flying in the field of civil aviation. The offence is to be found in Regulations 5(l)(e) and carries a penalty of a fine at Level 4 -currently £2500.
Jackson v R. [2006] EWCA Crim 2380 (17 October 2006)
I have not researched whether those statutory provisions were still current in 2015 or whether any of the penalties have been subsequently increased.