Flying under Bridges
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The late John Jordan allegedly once flew his Stearman under the A14 Orwell Bridge at Ipswich.
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There's lots of things we used to do with aeroplanes (
) that you would be daft to do now, with everyone having a video camera facility on their phone.
) that you would be daft to do now, with everyone having a video camera facility on their phone.
I have flown as passenger under M6 at Thelwall in Bell 47. Definitely happened.
He later begged to rent a plane for a short local flight, disappeared, and was mourned as lost until he turned up in Belgium.
Providing you are English, (Skye), Spanish, (Balachulish) or French, (Kessock), it appears it's OK to fly under Scottish bridges.
PS you must quote to reply now.
Flown under the Gatwick air bridge in the 737 simulator a few years back... instructor got us to fly "circuits" underneath it before a 45/180 procedure style turn onto short finals for a touch and go & repeat.
Got us to do that 5 or 6 times.
Flying at a radalt of 6-10 feet required some quite precise and delicate control inputs... If you can hold it at that kind of attitude, and are able to adjust your rate of descent by a matter of a few feet per minute, a manual ILS and non-precision approach becomes a lot easier.
In real life, I'm a good boy. The lowest I ever got was probably doing dual PFLs back in my PPL/CPL training. Low enough to see the number sprayed on the side of the sheep as it was running away from us.
Got us to do that 5 or 6 times.
Flying at a radalt of 6-10 feet required some quite precise and delicate control inputs... If you can hold it at that kind of attitude, and are able to adjust your rate of descent by a matter of a few feet per minute, a manual ILS and non-precision approach becomes a lot easier.
In real life, I'm a good boy. The lowest I ever got was probably doing dual PFLs back in my PPL/CPL training. Low enough to see the number sprayed on the side of the sheep as it was running away from us.
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PS you must quote to reply now
Thought I had done something wrong in settings somewhere with this quote thing ! What if you don't want to quote or only want to quote with part or the other posters post is pages long. Can you disable that function?
Pace
On a visit to Linton. I flew the Tucano simulator at full chat under the Humber Bridge. It seemed a lot less than a 500ft gap. I was then asked to bring it round and fly across the bridge just above the traffic. Despite a voice in my headset telling me it wasn't real, I instinctively hauled it away at the last second. It looked too narrow for my wingspan.
Are helicopters not bound by the 500ft rule?
(a) still applies: an altitude allowing, if a power unit fails, an emergency landing without undue hazard to persons or property on the surface. Obviously not a problem flying under a bridge.
There's an official helicopter VFR route to the west of LAX at 100 feet along the beach (never flown it though :-( ).
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The Royal Navy Sea Kings would sometimes fly under the Erskine Bridge near Glasgow if the cloud base was too low, on their way up to the Southern General hospital.
I once flew the Concorde simulator under the Verrazano Narrows Bridge in New York. Great fun!
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I remember reading in a 1980,s edition of Pilot Mag (with pictures) about a French guy who flew a Rallye through the Arc de Triomphe with not much to spare at the wingtips.
Stunt was apparently to highlight some French Govt stance against light aviation.
Stunt was apparently to highlight some French Govt stance against light aviation.
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And how about the American who flew a Bonanza under the Eiffel Tower! About 1980 I think. There is video from the cockpit out there...
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A pilot whom I would have regarded it as an privilege to represent FOC - but I was under two at the time.
Result: Conditional Discharge & 10 guineas costs.
A very sensible decision by the Stipendiary Magistrate Mr Frank Milton who, by the time I appeared before him as a very young barrister about 20 years later, was Sir Frank Milton, Chief Metropolitan Stipendiary Magistrate. Tough when required and merciful when appropriate; a good combination.
..........
This small picture is a scan of a postcard showing him flying a Puss Moth under Tower Bridge in September 1931.
The writing on the picture says 'C. Draper 30th September 1931'.
Written on the back is 'Given to E. T. Cherry on 17th June 1933 by Major C. Draper (Himself)'.
There doesn't seem to be much room for 'characters' like the Mad Major in our modern, obsessively risk averse, world.
Opinions will no doubt differ about whether that is good or bad.
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91.119(d)(1) A helicopter may be operated at less than the minimum prescribed in paragraph (b) or (c).
(a) still applies: an altitude allowing, if a power unit fails, an emergency landing without undue hazard to persons or property on the surface. Obviously not a problem flying under a bridge.
(a) still applies: an altitude allowing, if a power unit fails, an emergency landing without undue hazard to persons or property on the surface. Obviously not a problem flying under a bridge.
There's an official helicopter VFR route to the west of LAX at 100 feet along the beach (never flown it though :-( ).
That was a long time ago. I don't know if it still exists because I think (not checked) the LAX Helipd was closed a few years ago because of construction work and not re-opened.
It used to be on top of a multi-storey car park near the Tower.
Departure was direct from the pad to the ocean not above 100 feet.
The beach/Pacific is at the top left of this photo which was originally posted by VaqueroAero.
The beach departure is shown at the end of this excellent video: https://vimeo.com/69051925
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I have a couple of times, once in an R22 and once in a B206 when flying a news helicopter around LA for a week. Great fun.
That was a long time ago. I don't know if it still exists because I think (not checked) the LAX Helipd was closed a few years ago because of construction work and not re-opened.
Avoid imitations
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During the "Cold War" in W. Germany we (rotary) were cleared to fly at 100 feet agl, or 50 feet agl if in a designated training area or another area that a detachment commander had deemed to be familiar to the crews. During some larger exercises, when fast jets were everywhere, we were cleared not above 150 feet agl.
This involved flying under quite a variety of obstacles, including bridges and HT cables. The SOP was to come to the hover adjacent to a pylon, recce the crossing, then hover taxi underneath. IIRC, the minima for wire crossings, were 6 metres clearance above, 3 metres laterally and 2 metres below the aircraft (to prevent arcing through the aircraft to ground from HT cables).
This involved flying under quite a variety of obstacles, including bridges and HT cables. The SOP was to come to the hover adjacent to a pylon, recce the crossing, then hover taxi underneath. IIRC, the minima for wire crossings, were 6 metres clearance above, 3 metres laterally and 2 metres below the aircraft (to prevent arcing through the aircraft to ground from HT cables).