cp:

The general rules here in the States for planes are they have to stay 500 feet from any structure and 1000 feet above populated areas (I've never seen the definition for "populated areas").  The one exception to this is when they are coming in for a landing or taking off. 

I think aerobatic activities have more stringent avoidance or clearance requirements.  Generally airshow aerobatics are done at an offset from the crowd, never directly above them.  

We had a local pilot who was up with his teenage son in their Citabria, a relatively tame aerobatic plane.  As he performed a snap roll the controls jammed and he couldn't control the plane.  They both had to bail out and pop their parachutes (all occupants of a plane are required to wear parachutes if you're going to fly outside of the "normal" flight aspects of pitch and roll--the one exception to this that I know of is when we practice stalls which are often caused by excessive "pitch up" and require or result in a steep pitch down to recover).  I don't know where the plane crashed but it fortunately didn't cause a problem to people on the ground, probably because he was flying over farm fields or one the local lakes.  His son bailed at 4000 feet and the pilot left at 2000 feet.  Evidently this took place somewhere between Auburn and Skaneateles which are southwest of Syracuse.

http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief2.asp?ev_id=20001207X04578&ntsbno=NYC95LA226&akey=1

http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/GenPDF.asp?id=NYC95LA226&rpt=fi

As I understand it that type of plane had a problem with the control cables coming off a certain pulley and getting jammed.  A fix for the problem was identified and they are now all required to have that fix.

Bruce


>
On Behalf Of Cuyler Page
Sent: Saturday, February 03, 2007 5:16 PM
Subject: Re: [BP] Smoke Time


 On occasion we get a bunch of Grumman Cats out for
> a lark, and there is at least one stunt pilot who likes to practice out 
> over the beach on days when there are not likely to be many ppl there.
>
> ][<


I once sat on a fire lookout atop a steep mountain beside a little northern 
BC town where the lone local doctor owned a stunt plane.   Some summer 
evenings, he would put on a show over town and relieve the stress of his 
work all at the same time, often diving straight down toward the middle of 
town and then looping and rolling back up all over the place.   The people 
below enjoyed his eccentricity, perhaps not realizing that from my point of 
view a few thousand feet away, and at his elevation, the actions looked more 
like militaristic vengeance and imaginary self destruction.

cp in bc

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