There's a lot of confusion about what a congested area actually is. A good few years ago now, when I took my PCFO, the instructor on my course said a congested can be described as just one property! Since then the rules have at least been clarified a little better. Yes you can fly over properties as long as you're at a height of over 50 metres. You must stay within visual line of sight with your aircraft and fly to a maximum distance from the take off point of 1,500ft (500 metres). Your take off point must be at least 50m (150ft) from any property, structure, vehicle or road not under your control. The 30m take off and landing rule you were referring to, regards people. You must stay at least 50m away from any person or animal not under your control, this is reduced to 30 meters for take off and landing. Is the road the runs past your house more than 50 metres away from where you intend to take off? If it is, you have a pretty substantially sized garden (for the UK). Are there properties on either side of your property and if there is, are they at least 50 metres away from where you intend to take off from? If they are less than 50 metres, you will have to get permission from those property owners, so that you can take off and land from where you intend to conduct your flight. Permission is best gotten in writing, this saves any confusion if any dispute arises at a later time.
Having said all that! Just because you (could) legally fly over properties, is it really best practice to actually do so? I know this is highly unlikely. But what if you were happily flying out over the properties that you have written about and a motor went nuclear on your aircraft. It'd fall straight out of the sky and most likely hit one of the properties, out buildings, car or even a person. An MM is only a small and light aircraft I know, but if it fell from a height of 50 metres straight on top of someone's melon, then that's at least going to cause an injury of some kind... As the pilot, you are liable for any injury or damage caused.. What I'm saying is, for the sake of walking a couple of hundred metres to the fields you are on about, is it worth the risk?
