Another Low Flyover by Military Helicopter

[BubbaK11]

Maybe 250 feet at the most over about 100 acres of private property. Made 3-4 passes at that altitude in central North Carolina.

I am a army helo pilot, contact me and I might be able to help, or I might be able to show, based on where you live, that they are authorized.

 

[crawl55]

§91.119 Minimum safe altitudes: General.
Except when necessary for takeoff or landing, no person may operate an aircraft below the following altitudes:

(a) Anywhere. An altitude allowing, if a power unit fails, an emergency landing without undue hazard to persons or property on the surface.

(b) Over congested areas. Over any congested area of a city, town, or settlement, or over any open air assembly of persons, an altitude of 1,000 feet above the highest obstacle within a horizontal radius of 2,000 feet of the aircraft.

(c) Over other than congested areas. An altitude of 500 feet above the surface, except over open water or sparsely populated areas. In those cases, the aircraft may not be operated closer than 500 feet to any person, vessel, vehicle, or structure.

(d) Helicopters, powered parachutes, and weight-shift-control aircraft. If the operation is conducted without hazard to persons or property on the surface—

(1) A helicopter may be operated at less than the minimums prescribed in paragraph (b) or (c) of this section, provided each person operating the helicopter complies with any routes or altitudes specifically prescribed for helicopters by the FAA;

— Bottom line, the military can fly to the surface if authorized by the commander. Even if fields are privately owned, there can be agreements for military to use those locations that may be unknown to other users. MOA’s and MTR’s are not specific requirements for a military aircraft to conduct training at any altitude.

 

[Flying at 69]

Maybe 250 feet at the most over about 100 acres of private property. Made 3-4 passes at that altitude in central North Carolina.

I fly in Northumberland from my garden 800ft up. I look down on the Chinooks flying through the valley!

 

[joejaxvic123]

I fly in Northumberland from my garden 800ft up. I look down on the Chinooks flying through the valley!

Video?

 

[Eagleye]

It's easy enough to determine range from your photograph if you know the camera FOV and image resolution. A UH-60 is 50 ft long and, for example, if that was a typical 12 MP phone camera with a FOV of 75° looking upwards at around 45°, then that helicopter was approximately 770 ft away and around 550 ft AGL.

If this is true... this is impressive. lol.. And I agree, it looks AT LEAST 550ft AGL... 250 seems way too low for the size of the heli in the pic. But i'm just using the "guess and check" method... except without the "check" part.

 

[sar104]

If this is true... this is impressive. lol.. And I agree, it looks AT LEAST 550ft AGL... 250 seems way too low for the size of the heli in the pic. But i'm just using the "guess and check" method... except without the "check" part.

It's just simple geometry. The apparent size of an object in an image (angle subtended) is a simple function of field of view, object size, and object distance. If you know any two of those you can calculate the third.

 

[Eagleye]

It's just simple geometry. The apparent size of an object in an image (angle subtended) is a simple function of field of view, object size, and object distance. If you know any two of those you can calculate the third.

Cool! I was trying to calculate/guess the height of a drone based off of an image taken with the drone looking straight down. There were parking spaces and stuff for reference, I just didn't know what math equation could be used for that. Any idea?

 

[ToasterDrones]

Calculator to Find or Calculate Distance or Size of an Object in an Image

 

[tictag]

It's just simple geometry. The apparent size of an object in an image (angle subtended) is a simple function of field of view, object size, and object distance. If you know any two of those you can calculate the third.

Calculator to Find or Calculate Distance or Size of an Object in an Image

I did not know this - learn something new everyday Great post.

 

[sar104]

I did not know this - learn something new everyday Great post.

The angle θ subtended by an object of width w at a distance d is given by

θ = 2tan⁻¹(w/2d)
​

and so

d = w/2tan(θ/2)​

If a camera has a horizontal field of view φ and N horizontal pixels, and an object has an image size of n pixels, then

θ = φn/N​

and so

d = w/2tan(φn/2N)​

 

[harly]

That's one weird looking DJI drone there, mate