Regarding private landing strip

[RegularPerson]

Hi Pilots,

 

What are the issues flying 150ft over a neighbours family home to land on a private landing strip? If the plane happens to stall for whatever reason and crashes into the home causing deaths, am I in the wrong?

 

Thanks

 

RegGuy

[onetrack]

Have you investigated your local planning laws and restrictions on airstrip installation and use? Have you spoken to your neighbours as regards flying directly over their house?

If you cause deaths by crashing your aircraft, there would need to be negligence or unlawful/illegal behaviour on your part, which would result in an expensive lawsuit or lawsuits.

[RegularPerson]

5 minutes ago, onetrack said:

Have you investigated your local planning laws and restrictions on airstrip installation and use? Have you spoken to your neighbours as regards flying directly over their house?

If you cause deaths by crashing your aircraft, there would need to be negligence or unlawful/illegal behaviour on your part, which would result in an expensive lawsuit or lawsuits.

Thank You for replying promptly ... The neighbour(home being flown over) is actually me ... The pilot (my neighbour) has just started flying over my home and has not warned me, nor asked my permission. The part of the home which the plane flies over is my childrens bedrooms, so if the plane stalls (due to bad fuel, water in fuel, magneto problem, control failure, strong rear wind etc) and crashes into my home, it's highly likely my children will be killed.

 

Do you think I'm in my right to refuse him flying over my home as he seems to think he has a right to? 

[kgwilson]

I have been flying since the 1970s and have flown in to many private strips. I would never fly over any ones house at such low level to land unless I had spoken to the home owner and requested permission, not just assume I had the right. You have a valid right to be concerned but a discussion about the issue with your neighbour is the best first step in my opinion.

[RegularPerson]

3 minutes ago, kgwilson said:

I have been flying since the 1970s and have flown in to many private strips. I would never fly over any ones house at such low level to land unless I had spoken to the home owner and requested permission, not just assume I had the right. You have a valid right to be concerned but a discussion about the issue with your neighbour is the best first step in my opinion.

Yes, I will have a face to face discussion with them, but being a non-pilot, they will try to pull the wool over my eyes. They believe that as long as they are landing, they can fly below the 500ft limit (rural) over my home. I don't know whether they have sought council approval to use their property as a private landing strip, so I will have to ask them and council. In all honesty, the lives of my children are not worth risking. 

 

Thanks for the replies and if you have any more pointers for me about the legalities, that would be very helpful.

 

[Moneybox]

A friendly chat with your neighbour is likely to get a better response then to go in all guns blazing. 

[skippydiesel]

To the best of my understanding , you have no legal right to the airspace over your home. 

Nor am I aware of amy any general legal restriction to landing on your own property or that of a cooperting owner.

This is not the end of the story -

Most pilots do not wish to antagonise their neighbours and will if possible adjust their flight path to accommodate your concerns.

It would seem that you have raised the matter with the pilot neighbour, without a mutually acceptable outcome - unfortunate for both parties.

While the risk to your house & its occupants has been elevated, above pre landing activity, by your neighbour - it may not be as significantly more so than your emotive portrayal would suggest. 

The perception (fear) of elevated risk, by the public, from aircraft flying overhead, is greatly exaggerated. This fear has to a large extent been fueled by hysterical & inaccurate  media reporting. Aircraft rarely hit buildings and almost never fall straight down (even when stalled).

I don't know your house location or its surrounds, therefore what its existing risks may be eg could it be at the bottom of a steep hill, justabout where a vehicle brake failure causes it to impact your house,  flood/fire prone area, surrounded by trees that may fall /drop limbs create an elevated fire risk, is its electrical/gas supply systems all in good safe condition, do molds grow on the ceiling of some rooms, etc?

How do you know the aircraft is at 150 ft above your house? Most people are very bad judges of aircraft altitude. Unless you are able to substantiate the height, do not mention it as a known measurement.

How frequent is this aircarft activity? 1/day/week/month - goes to the quiet enjoyment of your property and that of your neighbour.

I assume your neighbour owns or has permission to land on the property, as landing on a private property, without permission, is against the law (forced/emergency landing excepted).

There can be no harm, hopefully some good in you making another attempt to discuss the matter with your neighbour - try and avoid emotive arguments (children in bedrooms, assumed heights) and go for what most people would agree is the presumed right to the quiet enjoyment of your home & property.

If your neighbour is unable/unwilling to compromise, I can only suggest an appeal to your local council-  they may have some restrictions on aircraft landing on private land. 😈

Edited 4 hours ago by skippydiesel

[RegularPerson]

I don't wish at all to go all guns blazing. If he can change the landing/takeoff path to NOT go over my home, that would be acceptable. 

 

There are power lines, trees and rural fencing all around the surrounding properties and a narrow path to his private landing strip which happens to be over my home. If I had a 30cm stick, I could throw it up and hit his prop as he comes over, so it's definitely low and noisy.

 

Yes, we have exchanged some messages and I am about to go over to them to discuss my concerns face to face. 

 

I know I may sound emotive, that's because I am. I could never forgive myself if anything happened to my children and I failed to protect them.

 

There is a council airport 10km away with free takeoff/landing and free parking for however long you want. I'm not sure why they don't want to use it ... shrugs

 

Thank You Skippy for your long reply ... Appreciate it very much. I didn't know landing on a private property without proper permission is illegal. I read in other forums pilots saying they don't need permission from anyone to land on their land.

 

PS ... forgot to mention ... it's just really started ramping up this weekend past. He took off and landed two times over the Saturday and Sunday.

 

 

 

 

Edited 4 hours ago by RegularPerson

[BurnieM]

Short answer; yes he can fly below 500 feet over your house while landing on his property.

 

Both of you have a right to enjoyment of your property.

Both of you must be realistic in the actual, as opposed to perceived, risk of any activaty.

 

If there are trees and power lines he may be restricted in the approach path he can follow.

Perhaps there are options here but I would be careful to not attempt to aggressively persuade him to perform any actions he might consider dangerous.

 

If he is landing once a week in daylight hours in a rural area I would consider this a low impact activity.

 

 

[RegularPerson]

5 minutes ago, BurnieM said:

Short answer; yes he can fly below 500 feet over your house while landing on his property.

 

Both of you have a right to enjoyment of your property.

Both of you must be realistic in the actual, as opposed to perceived, risk of any activaty.

 

If there are trees and power lines he may be restricted in the approach path he can follow.

Perhaps there are options here but I would be careful to not attempt to aggressively persuade him to perform any actions he might consider dangerous.

 

If he is landing once a week in daylight hours in a rural area I would consider this a low impact activity.

 

 

I'm not sure how often he plans to take off and land so that will be discussed. I think if he plans to use it for daily commuting, I don't think it will be acceptable in all honesty. I don't want him doing dangerous manoeuvres, but I will go over to his property to see what the options are.  

Edited 4 hours ago by RegularPerson

[BurnieM]

Daily commuting would still probably be legal.

 

The flexibilty of rural areas allows many activities without council approval.

 

[RegularPerson]

1 minute ago, BurnieM said:

Daily commuting would still probably be legal.

 

The flexibilty of rural areas allows many activities without council approval.

 

I understand. I'll have to double check that with the council tomorrow. This is all new to me so it's been a bit of a rollercoaster. At first I thought it was a plane doing an emergency landing which is fine, but just found out they own the plane and plan to use it for recreation/commuting I gather. 

[BrendAn]

3 hours ago, RegularPerson said:

Hi Pilots,

 

What are the issues flying 150ft over a neighbours family home to land on a private landing strip? If the plane happens to stall for whatever reason and crashes into the home causing deaths, am I in the wrong?

 

Thanks

 

RegGuy

What is the distance from your house to the neighbours airstrip.

That can give us a better idea of his height.  He would more likely be at 3 or 400 ft. 150 is almost over the fence.  I don't know if your genuine or a troll but you need to supply facts not guesses. 

Edited 3 hours ago by BrendAn

[RegularPerson]

32 minutes ago, BrendAn said:

What is the distance from your house to the neighbours airstrip.

That can give us a better idea of his height.  He would more likely be at 3 or 400 ft. 150 is almost over the fence.  I don't know if your genuine or a troll but you need to supply facts not guesses. 

From my roof to his touch down is about 211 m using google maps measurement. Once he's over the fence, the grass obscures my view so I can't pin point his touch down. He's flying a single engine Cessna type plane (I'm not a pilot or plane watcher so exactly not sure the model).

 

PS ... His landing strip is just a paddock

Edited 2 hours ago by RegularPerson

[BrendAn]

3 minutes ago, RegularPerson said:

From my roof to his touch down is about 211 m using google maps measurement. Once he's over the fence, the grass obscures my view so I can't pin point his touch down. He's flying a single engine Cessna type plane (I'm not a pilot or plane watcher so exactly sure the model).

That is pretty close..

Forgive the troll comment, just never sure on the net. 

211 mt would make him around the height you say. Fingers crossed he can modify his strip and move away from your house.

Hope you can work out something between the both of you. 

 

[RegularPerson]

1 minute ago, BrendAn said:

That is pretty close..

Forgive the troll comment, just never sure on the net. 

211 mt would make him around the height you say. Fingers crossed he can modify his strip and move away from your house.

Hope you can work out something between the both of you. 

 

Thanks BrendAn ... Appreciate you doing the maths for me. I'm an electrical engineer who build engines too, but plane stuff is beyond me. All good bout the troll stuff ... Many Cheers for verifying it for me.

[Moneybox]

Where I picked up my plane near Laidley in Queensland the airstrip was surrounded by trees.

 

 

The property's owner lived almost in line with the airstrip just 100m away. They solved the problem by making all take-offs and landings over the opposite end of the airstrip with no flying over the house. Perhaps your neighbour could be encouraged to takeoff and land over the other end of the airstrip.

 

The best chance of success is usually to do things in a very friendly manner. Whatever happens you'll most likely still be neighbours so hopefully friends.

[RegularPerson]

14 minutes ago, Moneybox said:

Where I picked up my plane near Laidley in Queensland the airstrip was surrounded by trees.

 

 

The property's owner lived almost in line with the airstrip just 100m away. They solved the problem by making all take-offs and landings over the opposite end of the airstrip with no flying over the house. Perhaps your neighbour could be encouraged to takeoff and land over the other end of the airstrip.

 

The best chance of success is usually to do things in a very friendly manner. Whatever happens you'll most likely still be neighbours so hopefully friends.

Thanks for the great suggestion. I was thinking that exactly. Problem is they have overhead powerlines up the other end where their house is. My property is line free because we're offgrid. I'll suggest it if they can get a quote to get the last line put underground so they can do as you said... I know they're pretty well off, but that might be a stretch. Now I wish I had powerlines ... LOL