To set the scene, ~2 months ago I moved to live in a rural area near the summit of a line of hills and, since the views are rather good, frequently fly my drone either from the property itself or, if unoccupied by livestock, from one of the adjacent fields which are part of our neighbour's farm. Our property is at about 320m above sealevel, around 200m above the valley floor, and the hill I'm on peaks at around 360-380m, depending on where you cross the ridge.
Besides a few instances when I wasn't flying my drone, I've had to deconflict twice now due to aircraft (both times a helicopter, not that it really matters) approaching at below 500ft AGL, and in the most recent instance, visibly below the height of my drone which is capped at 120m from takeoff point, and was close to max altitude over its take-off point at the time, e.g. ~400ft AGL, as I was getting some top-down views of the property and grounds. I would assume the pilots doing this are at a reasonable AGL for the valley floor on either side of the ridge, but simply maintain that as they fly over the ridge as I seldom notice any visible change in altitude as they approach.
To be clear, I get that the responsibility is on me to deconflict in this situation, and my SOP is to reduce altitude as appropriate whenever I hear an approaching aircraft no matter where I am anyway, but my understanding is that aircraft pilots also have a responsibility to do things like avoiding structures, such as our property or the farm slightly further down the hill, and potentially disturbing livestock, like the farm's dairy herd - some of which were definitely slightly spooked during the latest flypast.
I know drone limitations are strictly AGL and closest point of approach based (and the CAA's diagrams make this perfectly clear), but is it OK for manned light aircraft pilots to maintain level flight over hilltops, even though that might briefly bring them within 500ft of ground level and/or structures, or should they be increasing altitude to maintain 500ft AGL regardless?
Also, while I would hate to tempt fate and/or give the anti-drone crowd another datapoint in the drone-involved near miss reports that they seldom look into the details of, some guidance as to where the line is that I should raise these to the CAA as an Airprox would be appreciated. I've had two occasions where I've deconflicted as a precaution in less than two months (I wouldn't class them as a near miss as I was able to get my drone well out of the way in plenty of time), and I suspect they won't be the last.
Besides a few instances when I wasn't flying my drone, I've had to deconflict twice now due to aircraft (both times a helicopter, not that it really matters) approaching at below 500ft AGL, and in the most recent instance, visibly below the height of my drone which is capped at 120m from takeoff point, and was close to max altitude over its take-off point at the time, e.g. ~400ft AGL, as I was getting some top-down views of the property and grounds. I would assume the pilots doing this are at a reasonable AGL for the valley floor on either side of the ridge, but simply maintain that as they fly over the ridge as I seldom notice any visible change in altitude as they approach.
To be clear, I get that the responsibility is on me to deconflict in this situation, and my SOP is to reduce altitude as appropriate whenever I hear an approaching aircraft no matter where I am anyway, but my understanding is that aircraft pilots also have a responsibility to do things like avoiding structures, such as our property or the farm slightly further down the hill, and potentially disturbing livestock, like the farm's dairy herd - some of which were definitely slightly spooked during the latest flypast.
I know drone limitations are strictly AGL and closest point of approach based (and the CAA's diagrams make this perfectly clear), but is it OK for manned light aircraft pilots to maintain level flight over hilltops, even though that might briefly bring them within 500ft of ground level and/or structures, or should they be increasing altitude to maintain 500ft AGL regardless?
Also, while I would hate to tempt fate and/or give the anti-drone crowd another datapoint in the drone-involved near miss reports that they seldom look into the details of, some guidance as to where the line is that I should raise these to the CAA as an Airprox would be appreciated. I've had two occasions where I've deconflicted as a precaution in less than two months (I wouldn't class them as a near miss as I was able to get my drone well out of the way in plenty of time), and I suspect they won't be the last.