Why is that plane flying so low?
Usually because it's taking off or landing: on final approach an airliner is only about 3,000 feet up when it's ten miles from the runway. Helicopters, crop dusters, survey and military training flights are also allowed to fly lower than you might expect.
It’s landing or taking off
Airliners descend on a gentle slope of about three degrees, which works out to roughly 300 feet of height per nautical mile from the runway. Ten miles out, a jet on final approach is around 3,000 feet up, low enough to see the landing gear and read the airline. Arrival paths can run over towns well away from the airport, and the runway in use (and so the path) changes with the wind. Why the planes over you change from day to day.
How low can planes legally fly?
In the United States, the FAA’s minimum safe altitudes (14 CFR 91.119) say that, except when taking off or landing:
- Over cities, towns and crowds, an airplane must stay at least 1,000 feet above the highest obstacle within 2,000 feet of it.
- Over other areas, at least 500 feet above the surface, and over open water or sparsely populated areas, no closer than 500 feet to any person, vessel, vehicle or structure.
- Helicopters may fly lower than this if they can do it without hazard to people or property on the ground.
Other countries have similar rules.
Low-flying aircraft that are doing their job
- Helicopters: medical, police, news, tour and utility helicopters work low by design.
- Crop dusters: agricultural aircraft fly just above the crops under their own set of rules.
- Military training: the military flies published low-level training routes, some of them very low and very fast. A C-130 at treetop height is usually a training flight, not an emergency.
- Power line and pipeline patrol, survey and photography: slow, low and often back and forth.
- Flyovers and airshow practice: approved in advance for a specific time and place.
Big planes look lower than they are
Size fools the eye. A wide-body jet at 3,000 feet can look as close as a small plane at 1,000. If you can see it clearly, check its altitude on a live map before deciding it’s too low.
If you think it was unsafe
In the US, report unsafe low flying by a civil aircraft to your local FAA Flight Standards District Office. Note the time, the location, the direction it was heading and, if you can, the registration on the tail. A live aircraft map gives you the exact time, altitude and identity, which makes a report far more useful. For military aircraft, contact the public affairs office of the nearest base.
