A plane flew over our school?

Question

There was a plane that flew over our school it was so close to the ground that you can actually throw a rock at it and it would hit it. Anyways I thought that was ilegal to fly a plane so close like that. The plane was like an Army Plane, when I saw it I was like " Oh **** its gonna drop a bomb!" My classmates and teachers thought it was gonna crash. Our whole school freaked out when we saw it. Isn't this illegal flying close to the ground?

Answer 1

I just want to add a tiny comment to Aviophage and Jim:

In Europe the rule is 1,000 feet minima, not above ground (AGL) but above the highest structure. E.g a tall building with a mast will be 1,000 ft above that noted obstacle AMSL altitude on your chart.

If it is different in the US, I'd like to know it. A direct email would be appreciated, thanks.

Answer 2

I used to see a Cessna 172 flying very low over my apartment complex, which was very close to a large airport.  I knew it was too low, but it turned out that it was on power line patrol, and had a waiver to fly like that.  So, it might be nothing to worry about.  And, don't worry about finding out what kind of airspace the nearest airport has.  Most kids wouldn't understand this, and even if you found out it wouldn't tell you anything.  I like the idea about calling the fsdo.  It probably won't happen again, so catching him if it's illegal might be pretty unlikely.

Answer 3

If it was as close to the ground as you idicated, yes that is illegal unless it was an emergency situation of some type.  Not knowing what type of aircraft it was, it's hard to say.  

As far as dropping a bomb, bombs are dropped from much higher altitudes.

Answer 4

It could've been someone busting altitude, maybe they were making a photopass for someone on the ground, or spotted something of interest and were checking it out.  However, some police and military helicopters have standing waivers to fly lower (for military folks entering and exiting a low-level route area comes to mind).

But, yes technically one must remain at least 1000 AGL ("Above Ground Level").

Answer 5

--Not necessarily.  DC-3 spray planes fly lower than that over urban areas.

Answer 6

In normal flight operations, it is illegal to fly less than 1,000 feet above ground level over a populated area, which certainly includes schools.

There are law enforcement and military situations that are exempt from that rule, but they probably won't tell you anything about what they were doing.

Don't worry about a low-flying airplane dropping a bomb on you.  The bomber that bombs you will be very high and you will neither see nor hear it.

If the airplane had a military/law enforcement look about it, then it may have been the cops chasing a bad guy on the ground.  Or it could have been somebody with more money than sense doing a buzz job.

You can call the nearest Flight Standards District Office (FSDO, pronounced "FIZZ-dough") to report or inquire about a low flying airplane.

To find your nearest FSDO, call your local airport or check the FAA website at http://www.faa.gov.

Answer 7

in short... no

And anyway that would have been freakin awesome!!!