low flying

[skua]

as a plank pilot of ltd experience of the rotary world, can someone please tell me what is the lowest height (AGL) that a chopper is permitted to transit a built-up area? Does this depend on whether it has 1 or 2 engines?

Ta

Skua

[headsethair]

At the moment, 1500' over congested areas for singles (that's from the highest object). May come down to 1000' if Rule 5 is changed.
Twins have to comply with 500' rule (from nearest human, structure or vessel) and be able to land clear if they need to do a forced landing.
However, exemptions are available and some airspace has its own rules (ie The Specified Area and the London CTR where all helis run at less than 1500 along proscribed routes.)
I've probably got something wrong / missed something out - keep watching the thread.

[Gomer Pylot]

That's a very broad question. It depends entirely on where the flying is happening, and it varies widely across the world.

[RDRickster]

Since you are in the UK, the following probably won't interest you much. Nevertheless, I'll post it anyway. Part 91.119 (d) - 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.

That said, if you are over a congested area, ATC will assign a proper altitude once you enter airspace. You can also find information listed in specific "Helicopter Route Charts," but these are only available for Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Baltimore-Washington, Dallas- Ft.Worth, Houston, and Salt Lake City. They are easier to read than standard charts (blue, brown, and white colors only) and provide a lot of detailed information for low altitude flights. Helicopter Routes are highlighted in dark blue and contain a route number and frequency for that specific route.

The flip side is that places like the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan area is almost like one very large city... all spread out. There is no distinction between Washington, Silver Spring, Bethesda, Rockville, Gaithersburg, etc. All of those cities are outside Class B, so it is at the pilots discretion concerning altitude. Factors like noise abatement areas aside, if the pilot experiences an emergency and balls it up in the middle of town square, there will be a reckoning. It's up to the pilot to maintain an altitude that provides the most options in the event of a forced landing situation.

[Johe02]

Headsethair has got it about right for the UK

But I think the land clear rule applies to singles too.

The London heli-routes are an exception of course with the lowest permitted alt. 750 ft near Kew Bridge.

The police can do whatever they want. . .!

[Helinut]

Johe 02

The "land clear" rule does not apply to S/E helicopters. Instead it is replaced by the similar (but different) land without danger to persons or property on the ground rule.

The police can't do what they want. They are exempt from most (but not all) of the normal rules. However, they then have lower limits imposed on them by their Polce Air Ops Manual that they legally must comply with. Keeping it simple (and considering only congested areas) the police rules are >300 ft (DAY) and >500 ft (night)

[Johe02]

OK cheers Helinut. I didn't know they'd re-named the land clear rule but it sounds about par for the course. . !

So if the police are chasing some bad guys and they needed to go lower than 300/500ft or risk losing sight of them. . . ?? :hmm:

[Bright-Ling]

......the police DO have rules and minimas and having flown with the Met Police again recently, can verify that they are adhered to!

Also the 750ft at Kew Bridge is LEVEL AT - where as apart from a bit of H10, all the other altitudes are in fact "not above xx feet" so as long as you were complying with the ANO you could be at 50feet, could you not? (ie Over the Thames (look out for the boats!!))

:)

B-L

[Darlick]

Over built up areas the Police in the UK can operate at 300 feet AGL (day) and 500 ft night (its a bit more complex than that but you have the general gist). In fact the lower we go the more chance there is of losing them!! You may not beleive it but we do try and operate as high as possible (in our area 1500 - 2000 amsl) but we will descend to avoid other traffic or to get the best FLIR or Daylight camera picture.

[Hedski]

Having flown the London routes with inputs and opinions from various quarters I would say 1500ft over congested area, standard anywhere but when on Heli routes you are SVFR within London zone. Under JAR-OPS 3 you are exempt from 1500ft rule under SVFR but must adhere to 500ft rule unless taking off or landing. Not sure about ME, not that advanced yet, my day will come.:E
Wouldn't like to try arguing why I hit Vauxhall Bridge! The SOA's are max alts. but you can be lower while following the other rules! :8

[StevieTerrier]

headsethair -

"At the moment, 1500' over congested areas for singles (that's from the highest object). May come down to 1000' if Rule 5 is changed.
Twins have to comply with 500' rule (from nearest human, structure or vessel) and be able to land clear if they need to do a forced landing"

Does that mean that twins are exempt from the 1500' rule, or am I mis-reading it?

[BlenderPilot]

In this part of the world, we are supposed to be ICAO compliant which means something like 1500FT over congested areas, but I don't think I have ever been that high during a normal flight, most helicopters fly between 800 and 500FT AGL, police are usually around 300FT.

Funny thing is Mexico City being maybe one of the 3 largest cities in the world has its airport almost right in the middle of it, so even if we wanted to climb we couldn't because there are always large planes over head. The rule says 1500 feet but, but ATC doesn't want you up there because you interfere with their large traffic which is about 1 heavy transport jet every 2 minutes average.

The new "unofficial" for Mexico City says something like, fly at any altitude you want, but do so in a manner that if your engine quits you don't hit anyone on the ground.

[Thomas coupling]

Why the question Skua?

[Helinut]

Stevie T,

Twins have to comply with all the low flying rules. The one that should not matter to them is the "what happens if one engine fails" rule where you must be able to land without danger to persons or property on the ground, cos they should just be able to keep flying.

[StevieTerrier]

Thanks, Helinut.

I thought that was the case, but was a bit worried that the Powers had snuck a rule change past when I wasnt looking! However, now I come to think about it, it would have been a change to our advantage, so I really should have known better!