Can a helicopter that is hovering above your property be trespassing?

[R04stb33f]

Hi folks - a bit of a weird question this time....

My folks who live in the south of France told me (and photographed) a Hughes 500 that was buzzing around their garden and hovering right over the next door neighbour's pool.

It passed within 50ft of their roof and we have photos of it within about 20ft of the neighbours pool. The neighbours are not there and haven't been for some time. We know them quite well, and they were not expecting a visit from a helicopter.

So, even though the helicopter wasn't actually on the property, how close does it have to be to be considered trespassing?

I have the reg - it was easily readable, and have checked it out in the databases etc. It even appears on airliners.net. It is a privately owned aircraft.

Any ideas?

Many thanks!

Roastie

[750XL]

Maybe contact the owner asking what the hell they were playing at? :eek:

[R04stb33f]

I can't seem to be able to find out who the owner of the helicopter is... It was nothing to do with our neighbours... :suspect:

[750XL]

If you have the reg it shouldn't be too hard to find out

[R04stb33f]

Thanks for your reply :)

I have googled quite intensely... If one can use such a verb... And there was also another thread on this forum with some good links to owner databases, but this one always comes up as "private owner"

Do you have any ideas?

Roastie

[Jarvy]

Not trespassing but if it was in the UK breaking the 500ft rule as not landing or taking off. In the UK all registrations are on the CAA website don't know about Italy. All I can suggest is you write to the Italian CAA.

[R04stb33f]

Thanks very much folks.

The owner of said aircraft has been determined...

It is possible that this individual was looking at the property in order to buy it. There is not, however, enough space to land a helicopter and the way my father described the flying was that he was "hooning" around before hovering pulling some "quite tight corners"... Must have made a right racket!

Anyway, we shall decide what to do with this info over the next days.

I had forgotten about the 500ft rule - thanks for that :)

Thank you very much for your help.

[jumpseater]

My folks who live in the south of France

You will need to find out what the 'Rules of the Air' are in France. In the UK and as far as I'm aware the rest of any ICAO Fifth Freedom signatory states, there is no tresspass by overflight. You may own the ground your property sits on to the depth of a few metres (foundations or a well for example), but you don't own the airspace above it. So assuming an aircraft is obeying whatever national/local low flying regulations are in force, and obeying any airspace restriction in terms of accessing that airspace, they can operate above your property.

If the images don't show any identifiable ground features at the location in question they will be worthless as 'evidence'.

[Buster the Bear]

I have a superb aerial framed photo of my house. A nice chap came to my door and offered it for sale, £80 a bargain!

When I told him that I had been to court over a low flying aircraft taking photos of houses and the pilot had been prosecuted under the low flying rule, he left rapidly making excuses and forgot to take the picture with him. It now sits on my wall awaiting collection.

True story, St Albans Crown Court in the 1990's.