Gary Mac
Second Officer
Flight distance : 741683 ft
United States
Offline
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Good response Logger.
One last clarification: In the US, the FAA allows you to violate the 400 feet above surface rule as long as you are within 400 feet of a structure (i.e. the cliff). So, you can legally fly off the cliff and as much as 400 feet from it without descending. This would also allow you to fly from the bottom of the cliff to the top (600 feet higher than your 400 foot limit) as long as you stayed within 400 feet of the cliff. I'm sure you would have to acknowledge the 400 foot warning to continue. This would also let you fly from the ground to the top of a 1500' tower, as long as you don't move more than 400 feet from the side of the tower and are doing everything else legally.
The whole intent is to keep you out of normal aircraft airspace, which is 500 feet above ground level and 500 from obstacles. Hypothetically, no plane should be flying within your 400 foot allowance of the cliff, however you need to remember that YOU are required to give the right-of-way to the aircraft, not the other way around. That's the reason for the visual observation requirement. You never know when a hang-glider, paraglider or other human-occupied aircraft may violate that airspace where you are flying.
So, if an aircraft DOES come within that margin, you should do everything you can to get out of their way. This is the "common sense" part where you put the human life of the pilot above the cost of the drone. |
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