I am actually surprised by his concern. As an ex Private Pilot I was taught that altitude is your friend and when you are flying in an area without obvious emergency landing sites you should even be higher to ensure you could glide to a safe place to land. In addition, winds are much trickier in the mountains So again, higher altitude. Personally, I would much more concerned over congested areas.
Certainly true if everybody played by the rules. Obviously they don’t. Many takeoff from a height already well above 400’ ground level below. They either don’t know or follow the 400’ ground rule in mountains. Avoiding the new drones will be easier and safer for fixed wing. And my son.
Easy to say with time and confidence. My kid just got his shirttail cut off this week. Lol
14 CFR § 91.119 - Minimum safe altitudes: General.
www.law.cornell.edu
Yes there are laws. Also common sense dictates that if we are going to transit any distance, that we climb up to a reasonable altitude. For example if I take off at 2300' msl and will be going 200 nm, and the terrain that I will be going over has a maximum msl of 6500', I would likely climb up to 8500 or 9500 msl. But weather plays a factor in my altitude choice, so lets say that at those altitudes i could be in clouds, I would likely then file IFR and climb on top of the clouds. If the cloud tops are too high, and I am only in my helicopter, then it isn't possible as its not pressurized, nor do i carry oxygen in it, and its illegal for me to fly at whatever altitude I wish, because hypoxia is a legitimate threat. Generally if I am flying over an area with any homes at all, unless just taking off or landing, I want to be a minimum of 3,000 feet above them, its just my personal preference, not law. I'm very fortunate to live in a region where probably 0.00000001% of the land has a home on it.
Not likely at all. Fly your drone to 200 ft and look how close that is. I consistently take my to 400 ft to get those pictures. Only thing I watch for is the police choppers. They sometimes are cruising around.
This is so true with helicopters. I live near the ocean and love to fish. The fire dept. Heli does a lot of low level (well under 100') flights at high speed that hug the shoreline. There is one spot that I fish that you can hear it coming but the homes and terrain block your visual view of it. 3 seconds later it's right in front of you blazin by.
