Low Level Nuisance flying, near Wintervogel

[Morph]

I received a letter of complaint from a photographer who was trying to photograph Flamingos at this dam to the east of Wintervogel. It took him months to get permission from the farmer to get access to the dam. He was taking pics when 3 trikes approached the dam. Two of the trikes came in low level across the dam, chasing all the flamingos away

Hallo Sir,
I am not a pilot or involved in the microlight business at all but I want to bring something to your attention that shocks me.

On Saterday (30/10/10) between 06h15 and 09H00 I was busy photographing birds (Flamingo & Pelicans) on a farm in the Malmesbury (Western Cape)district when one after the other microlight plane came in on the birds at below powerline level.

You could clearly see the fright from the birds and they take of - by 09H30 there was not one flamingo let at the pan and only a few pelican's. I do have picture's of these planes, some with nr's on and some without nr's. I need you assistance to bring these horrible behaviour of pilots within the microlight environment to their clubs attention or must I report this to the Aviation authority's. Is there anyone in the Western Cape that I can contact in this regard?

Your assistance will be appreciated.

The rule states

Minimum heights
91.06.32 (1) Except when necessary for taking off or landing, or except with
prior written approval of the Commissioner, no aircraft –
(a) shall be flown over built-up areas or over an open-air assembly of persons
at a height less than 1 000 feet above the highest obstacle, within a
radius of 2 000 feet from the aircraft;
(b) when flown elsewhere than specified in paragraph (a), shall be flown at
a height less than 500 feet above the ground or water, unless the flight
can be made without hazard or nuisance to persons or property on the
ground or water; and
(c) shall circle over or do repeated overflights over an open-air assembly
of persons at a height less than 3 000 feet above the surface.

it is this type of flying that will cause our airspace to be closed down, or absolute minimum altitudes to be imposed.

I have sent the pilots concerned a letter from Misasa regarding this issue

Folks, respect the wildlife, they have as much right as humans do. There is no reason to harrass wildlife in any way.

[John Boucher]

Apart from the minima being broken and being a nuisance to wildlife - I find it disconcerting to pertinently look for trouble where one knows there are birds (big ones at that) that could cause in-flight altercations. I also notice a lot of power lines in the vicinity?

This does very little to build or promote a positive image for the microlighting fraternity

[nicow]

I must admit....that trike looks good between the flamingos...

[Grumpy]

Hhmmmmm.... very interesting.
If he has pictures of the trikes (of which some have numbers and some have not).
Not difficult to contact the guys. Where were these trikers from????
I hangar and fly from Wintervogel and can emphatically say that as a club we strongly disapprove of this behaviour.

[Morph]

I know who they are, one Morning Star, two from you know where. It not the policy of this forum to name and shame. I want to highlight this to others so that they can learn

[John Boucher]

Then Grumps... this one is close to home sir! Does your club have processes in place to reprimand as this does reflect on the rest of you operating from there?

[Grumpy]

Then Grumps... this one is close to home sir! Does your club have processes in place to reprimand as this does reflect on the rest of you operating from there?

Actually John, this is not close to home, this IS home.
As far as 'processes in place to reprimand', well, we have never had to.

[andrepieterse]

Dear Greg

This should be reported to CAA / RAASA so that individuals can be remediated in an appropriate, and on an individual basis.

Regards

[gertcoetzee]

A difficult one, since I have also been guilty. But not this Saturday. Not there. And pictures of flamingoes in flight are beautiful. Especially from above.

If it is whom I think it is, he has been doing this for years without any complaints from the farmer (read local wildlife flips). Should one then scream fowl when on one occasion there is a complaint?

The regulation does not state anything about a nuisance to wildlife. This is not a national park, neither is there any lower altitude limitations. It is in the newly declared "General Flying Area".

(b) when flown elsewhere than specified in paragraph (a), shall be flown at
a height less than 500 feet above the ground or water, unless the flight
can be made without hazard or nuisance to persons or property on the
ground or water; and

I think in this instance, the farmer should be contacted to ask whether he objects to flying over the dam, and if so, all flying in the Western Cape should be made aware of this. The photographer should receive an apology and an offer of unlimited flips if he has the desire to take aerial pics (I volunteer).

Some years ago a couple of us landed on Mr Curry's strip between Blouberg and Koeberg, he drove up, and Graham's diplomatic skills defused the situation. We made everyone aware of his dislike, and since the landing strip has been avoided by all.

On another occasion myself, and amongst others one of the contributors to this topic did a reconnaissance flip to a potential breakfast fly-in location. After we landed a local came racing towards us and I thought my CPR skills will be needed. Needless to say, we abandoned plans of a fly-in, and as far as I know the person who invited us to come to his property was informed and apologised to his neighbour.

My point is, if we piss people off, which we are bound to, being noisy and enjoying ourselfs in 3D, before encouraging complaints to the CAA MISASA and the ANC Youth League, we should apologise, explain, and take LOCAL steps to avoid confrontation.

[Barryathome]

Agree with Gert, flying over that farm dam at low level is not in breach of air law for that area. It is dangerous (and silly) though to fly in amongst large birds taking to the air. I have been flying from Wintervogel since 2007 and have overflown that area many times, usually watching the flamingo's from above and trying not to disturb them.

We will discuss this at our next club meeting.

[Morph]

From a Misasa standpoint we are investigating this issue further and will decide if it warrants taking further to RAASA/CAA

There is a strong drive from CAA to increase safety. The biggest single killer of microlight and gyro pilots is low level flight into cables and other items. It is instances like this that add fuel to an already raging fire. Places like this farm are going to be added to the ever increaseing FAR list. The DEAT is already driving at trying to get farm airfields closed and the minimum altitude over game reserves has been increased to 2500 ft agl, AIC 21.3 states minimum heights were increased to serve to protect persons, property and wild animals from the nuisance of aircraft being operated too close to the ground. Flamingos are wild animals. The Lesser flamngo is considered near threatened, and there are strong drives to protect them. There are apparently 30 breeding sites left in the world.

By the strict letter of the law, all it takes is one person to complain that your flying is a nuisance to him for section 91.06.31(1)(b) to be enforced.

Pretty soon all low level flying be banned, except for the purposes of landing and taking off. This is unneccessary. All we ask is that we all respect and value the freedoms we have and we don't do anything to threaten it.

[Morph]

I think in this instance, the farmer should be contacted to ask whether he objects to flying over the dam, and if so, all flying in the Western Cape should be made aware of this. The photographer should receive an apology and an offer of unlimited flips if he has the desire to take aerial pics (I volunteer).

Thanks for the offer Gert.

I have invited him to Morning Star on Saturday morning for breakfast and have arranged to indtroduce him to one of the "guilty" pilots. This will give a human face to the pilot and he will see what a nice person he is. If weather permits we will arrange a flip for him, the pilot or myself will take him up.

[John Boucher]

As far as I am aware, the farmer is not chuffed with the situation.... irrelevant if you or anybody else has been doing it for ages! So, if you are punting the fact that they were not breaking the law by low flying... they are breaking the law by being a nuisance! Six of one and half a dozen of the other!

AS for the "paid flipping" issue.... now that's an action that is going to take on a totally different path!

The situation has been handled promptly, efficiently and in a positive manner by MORPH!

[Morph]

the ANC Youth League.

and no, contrary to expectation, my real name is not Julius

[John Boucher]

Gents... my last post may be perceived as being too assertive by some! Well, on the contrary, I feel it is quite too the point....

Many are aware of my SAFETY conciousness - especially those that attended the S&R and Accident Investigation presentation held at Morningstar during the week of AAD 2010. Even though this presentation was open to all, it was a MISASA initiative arranged by Greg & myself..... I would have liked that Santjie showed the photos of the trikes that had crashed into residential homes & entangled with power lines!

It is our intention to up the image of the members of MISASA and our operations! By approaching these situations positively & pro-actively (as has been done), we may just succeed. But then, we do need a little co-operation as opposed to seeing us as the big !