Helicopters flying low

[Threshold]

Does anyone know what the height a helicopter is supposed to fly at? I thought 500' was the lowest they can fly, unless they are landing. I saw a few apaches flying low today over my house. Granted I live in class c airspace, my father lives north of me and reported the same helicopters flying past his house around 500'. So it got me thinking about drones and the possibility one day of having to avoid a helicopter. If you keep it under 400', shouldn't we be safe? Or can helicopters fly below 500'?

 

[Blucenturion]

No minimum altitudes for choppers. Listen for them, and get low. They shouldn't be below 300'.

 

[beachcombing]

Yeah, we have a lot of military helicopters that fly up and down the river near here. They fly just above the tops of buildings that I know are 300 feet tall.

 

[TrayBoz]

I watched a police helicopter just 2 weeks ago flying circles over my neighborhood helping to spot/catch a suspect who was fleeing through our neighborhood with policemen and K9's in pursuit. The copter was just above the treetops in our neighborhood - about 150 feet or so. I could clearly see the pilot's face. It was so loud and close it felt like it was shaking our house. The sound made me jump off the couch and run outside to see what the h*ll was going on. My first thought was, "it's a good thing I wasn't flying my mavic just now".

Of course this is not a normal occurrence, but it goes to show you they will fly as low as they feel they need to, to get the job done. Luckily, you'd be able to hear a low helicopter coming from a long way off - plenty of time to land if you did have a drone in the air.

 

[MDSH]

I was about to throw my Mavic into the sky when this beast thundered past.

This was up a cliff, with the sea about 50 metres to its port. It hugged the land through the town, just down the hill at sea level, and continued over the sea to the west.
I could easily have had my AC above him, and some.

 

[jackk]

Yeah I had a 'close' call a couple months ago when out on a boat in the middle of no where , couldn't hear the chopper over the boat motor. Came buzzing over the island at ~80m. Was so annoying

 

[rydfree]

Helis can fly at varying altitudes . I've had forest service helis and planes fly below 300' here on occasion and the military can do a lot of things that private aircraft can not . I've had a Osprey fly over my property at 400' before and stir up dust .

 

[stratos]

Does anyone know what the height a helicopter is supposed to fly at? I thought 500' was the lowest they can fly, unless they are landing. I saw a few apaches flying low today over my house. Granted I live in class c airspace, my father lives north of me and reported the same helicopters flying past his house around 500'. So it got me thinking about drones and the possibility one day of having to avoid a helicopter. If you keep it under 400', shouldn't we be safe? Or can helicopters fly below 500'?

You should record and report them. It unsafe for everyone. I
I always report this tourist pilots that in order to get and extra buc the fly lower than authorized.

Take day time and if possible video them and submit the complaint

 

[Top Hat]

Was flying @ work after lunch somewhere here in CA and out of the blue a U2 flew by and it's very low and slow. I was just startled and amazed @ the same time coz I know I was not flying really high maybe 30-40 ft 100-150 m away from me in our work parking lot, and also I have never seen that U2 spy plane before, "What an air plane".....too bad there's 1 that crashed couple months back somewhere in Sutter CA, not sure what happened to the pilot.

 

[rydfree]

You should record and report them. It unsafe for everyone. I
I always report this tourist pilots that in order to get and extra buc the fly lower than authorized.

Take day time and if possible video them and submit the complaint

Don't spoil the ride for us that like to get the pilot to fly low .You don't want people reporting your drone flying every time do you ? Let's just be careful , responsible and watch out for each other .

 

[SteveCA]

There is no height restriction for helicopters. The only thing you can complain about is noise in residential areas. I'm currently taking helicopter pilot lessons and can tell you that noise is the issue not height as helicopters get to fly at whatever height they want to.