Land Owners

[ravenx]

If you see a nice field close to your house, or just generally in a nice position, and want to find out who owns it to get their permission to land on it - where and how do you find out who owns it ??

[Vfrpilotpb]

Good evening Ravenx, simple , open the gate and park a vehicle in there, sooner or later someone will ask you "why ave you parked on MY field", then you grovel, and ask to land your copter there, " Do you want a fly in one" nearly guarantees you total sucess, or you could try the HM Land Registery at Lytham St Annes, Lancashire, give them a very good grid ref, but be prepared for a long , long, long wait>

[muffin]

I just knock on the nearest door and ask - people generally know who owns the land in their immediate area. I have recently gone through an exercise of doing just this for a large number of sites in East Anglia, and with very few exceptions everybody is quite happy for you to land there. F & M is a very big temporary problem at the moment though, so don't even ask just at the moment.

[ravenx]

Embarassingly enough the field is right behind my house but there is conflicting opinion as to whether it's owned by the council or by a land developer. Apparently if it's owned by the council I can forget the prospect of ever landing in it because they don't want to play.

[MightyGem]

Ravenx, after getting the landowner's permission, don't forget to inform the local police of your intentions.

[Vfrpilotpb]

Excuse the sucking egg syndrome, but also remember your clearances from other property when landing, in landing near your own back door, you may quiet innocently breech that rule, unless you clear that with your neighbours as well, have fun, be safe!

[Thomas coupling]

I always thought one needed consent to access anothers property/land. But this in itself is not a criminal act and the police won't respond. The owners (if they so wished)would have to pursue the person in a civil court. I suspect a successful result might be difficult to obtain because of the nature of the 'offence'. Perhaps someone out there has 1st hand knowledge?

The police do NOT need advance notice of landing on/in someone's field, again because it is not a police issue. Contacting them would simply be a courtesy call. They may disseminate the info further down the line but only if it suited them.

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Thermal runaway.

[The Nr Fairy]

Vfrpilotpb :

What "clearances" ? Do you mean the 500 foot rule, for which an exemption is made specifically for landing and takeoff ?

I'd agree however that good relations with neighbours would make things a lot easier.

[This message has been edited by The Nr Fairy (edited 02 May 2001).]

[Letsby Avenue]

Correct TC the Police do not need to be informed. Another case of Ex Mil Police pilots with no commercial experience?

[Vfrpilotpb]

TNF , the way I understand the rule 5 is that if landing at any place other than a regular landing ground,ie Helipad or runway, you must observe the 500 ft clearance from property, so in landing in your back yard for example, if you had neighbours within that distance(500Ft) , I beleive that you would be in breech of rule 5 unless it was and emergency landing, please correct me if I am wrong

[The Nr Fairy]

I seem to recall, and someone else has my Air Law notes, that the 500 foot rule applies "except for takeoff and landing".

I don't recall a stipulation tightening those criteria for helicopters landing at private sites.

FL - if you're listening, might you care to elucidate ? I'll send you the cheque later :)

[Vfrpilotpb]

TnF, hi , it may be the way that I have remembered the wording of Trevor Thoms, but here is how he word's it on page 11 para 3, book 2, Air Pilots Manual, I can quote this for I have found my book to check what I posted, the para state's:- "The 500ft rule, An aircraft must not fly closer than 500ft to any person,vessel vehicle or structure"( Exceptions to this rule are included below), I cannot see in my reading of the further para's, which are the exclusions, were that rule is relaxed, but the last sentance of para 4 on page 12 goes on to state, "Note that the 1500ft prohibition specified above DOES apply to flight after take off or before landing at UNLICENSED aerodrome's". therefore, I have the opinion that you must land at least 500 ft away from any structure( building,tower or house), It may well be that I am wrong , I would like to know if I am, for it would open up quite a few more LZs for me, perhaps the Flying Lawyer would give us of his wisdom on this?

Whilst my ponderous fingers were pressing the Flying Lawyer Obliged, before I had posted this, so thank you> my regards!

[This message has been edited by Vfrpilotpb (edited 03 May 2001).]

[Flying Lawyer]

Vfrpilot
The 500' Rule does not apply to an aircraft landing or taking off in accordance with normal aviation practice: Rule 5(2)(d)(i).
The 1500' Rule does apply to landing and taking off from private sites. The exemption only applies to Government/CAA/licensed aerodromes: Rule 5(4)

Nr Fairy
I look forward to receiving the cheque. :)

Rule 5 is so complicated and, as a result so often misunderstood, that I thought it might be helpful to post a full explanation on a new thread.
See http://www.pprune.org/ubb/NonCGI/Forum11/HTML/001049.html

[MightyGem]

One learns something new everyday. We were always told that we could land our fighting machines anywhere as long as we had the land owners permission and info'd the local bobbies, so that when Mrs Bloggs reported a UFO in the field over the road, they knew what it was.

AS you say it was obviously just a courtesey call.