In his book Flying The Mountains Fletcher Anderson advises " Look Ahead- When flying close to the ground, it is extremely difficult to accurately judge your height when looking down at the ground near you. Instead, do what the cropdusters do: Focus your vision way ahead on the horizon."

I have that book, it was given to me by his widow along with a box of cool pilot stuff after he hit a cable 50' above the Snake River in a plane identical to mine-- a 182j. Flying low increases risk of smacking stuff, even for experienced pilots. It sure is fun though, but around here there's a bunch of new unmarked, unlit, 199' cell phone towers taking the fun out of it.

For me the flying low dangers are:

1) Airtractors and Thrushes
2) Cell phone towers
3) Geese and Ducks

Not necessarily in that order.

Most of my flying is in a 100 mile radius from my hanger, so I've put pushpins on my wall chart where obstacles are. When I get ready to fly somewhere I glance at the pins along my route, it's usually 2-3 spots to commit to short term memory. I love flying low!

dirtstrip , no special procedures teached by the instructors.
From Cessna POH, land parallel with the waves, open doors before landing , and try to fly to the water and not flare it.

Always look out the front window. Every close call I had happened when I looked out the side window so I stopped doing that.
Most wires and cables are strung across rivers so I never fly low over them. Lakes can get you with the "featureless terrain illusion" so can snow, so I don't fly low there either.
Use your eyeballs like windshield wipers, they should never stop on anything.
I only flew pipelines for 3 years, thats what seemed to work for me.

And make sure your life insurance is paid up, you just might need it.

Nosedragger wrote:In his book Flying The Mountains Fletcher Anderson advises

Fletcher Anderson was killed a few years back when he hit a cable strung across the Snake River canyon in a 182.

It can happen to anyone.

Zane wrote:

Nosedragger wrote:In his book Flying The Mountains Fletcher Anderson advises

Fletcher Anderson was killed a few years back when he hit a cable strung across the Snake River canyon in a 182.

It can happen to anyone.

Mentioned that almost verbatim.

dave,
What kind of personal floatation devices do you have? I would have all pax including myself wearing some of the neat little pfd's that self inflate if I were going to be around open water with rocky unlandable beaches single engine.
Also a six cylinder egt/cht may help you to see if something is going wrong before it quits.

lowflyin'G3 wrote:What kind of personal floatation devices do you have?

I'll sell you an inflatable 2 person raft designed with airplane ditching in mind ~ never used ... yet.

I was a pax in the back seat of some low flying over a river and being distracted the pilot almost hit a bridge.

Don't make steep, tight turns below 500' AGL. I lost a son to that kind of low flying.

Nosedragger wrote:

Zane wrote:

Nosedragger wrote:In his book Flying The Mountains Fletcher Anderson advises

Fletcher Anderson was killed a few years back when he hit a cable strung across the Snake River canyon in a 182.

It can happen to anyone.

Mentioned that almost verbatim.

Bwahh...sorry. My high speed scanning skills failed me.

Im glad I started this thread, lots of good advice.
Thanks guys.
I have a JPI 700 and yes I scan it before going low.
Flotation, Im getting some life vests at Sun and fun.
Any recommendations?

I'm all in favor of PFDs for all pax, they are required for flying over water commercially after all. I would avoid the "inflates when wet type". We're trained not to inflate the vest until clear of the aircraft. Many poor souls have been trapped inside their submerged aircraft with automatically inflated vests pinning them inside.

Transport Canada is seriously considering making all commercial seaplane pax wear PDF at all times in the wake of a BC beaver crash two years ago. That's the scuttlebutt around our water cooler anyways.

Sam

A question about flying low.
What speeds or power settings you guys ususlly use?
High, slow, cruise?

motoadve wrote:A question about flying low.
What speeds or power settings you guys ususlly use?
High, slow, cruise?

15" MP 2000RPM Prop all in. 1 notch flaps 80 MPH IA

OK, I'll play the role of the turd in the punchbowl on this thread ... but, uhhhh, I don't fly low, except for intended take-offs and landings.

For all the reasons that one can glean from reading all the other posts in this thread so far ... like famous instructors/authors getting killed flying low ("it can happen to anybody") by hitting river cables (let's not forget our other famous backcountry author, Sparky Imeson, who met his demise while flying low) ... make sure you concentrate extremely intensively on what's out your windshield, meaning that, uh, you really can't pay attention to anything else going on in your cockpit or on your panel ... watch for birds (I've already come way too close to those bastards on landings at the local airports here ... and I'm not talking pidgeons or doves - I'm talkin' about Canada geese and sandhill cranes!!!) ... be prepared (???) to ditch from only 150 feet (or even 50 feet) above the waves or river (how the hell do you set up a perfect ditching parallel to the waves, and get your own self prepared, let alone you passengers, when you've got maybe 3 seconds before you touch down???!!!) ... and by the way, if you do have a fuel management issue or an engine failure at 50 feet AGL, how much time does that leave you to solve an easy problem (like, uhhh, switching to the full tank, or applying carb heat or whatever) ... and, be careful that you properly judge your height above the water or the snow so that you don't get fooled into "controlled flight into terrain" (or water) ... whatever you do, don't look out your side window, 'cause, who knows, you wouldn't want to actually enjoy your low level flight for a second or two of distraction lest you fly into the ground or an obstacle ... and oh, by the way, make sure your life insurance is paid up!

Naw, no thanks. I'll stay high (or, at least, not as low as some on here like to fly). Personally, I enjoy flying, not dying.

Here's an old pilot's truism for you that's actually useful: The two most useless things to a pilot are altitude above you and runway behind you.

Agree and well said!

nmflyguy wrote:OK, I'll play the role of the turd in the punchbowl on this thread ...

Awww man, who dropped that in there!

Haven't done much but it is fun. As pointed out, birds, towers, power lines, and lack of time in case of a force landing are many of the real hazards. Your Fat Aunt Annie isn't going to cut you any slack if you screw the pooch, either. Doubly so if a pax gets hurt or killed.

Power lines and towers can appear where they hadn't been before so try to check the area out first. Slower is better for avoiding things but don't stall the darned thing.

motoadve wrote:A question about flying low.
What speeds or power settings you guys ususlly use?
High, slow, cruise?

23 squared. That way you can trade speed for altitude if something's coming at you. That's how the ag pilots do it.

Been flying low...

...forever. All the dangers listed above are in fact issues of concern. Flying low is more dangersous than not. No attempt to downplay the issues. It is just that my first real flying job was pipline patrol in a Citabria. I patrolled 1,800 hours at 50 ft. above the trees. Guess that was a bad way to break in. Over the years I've had to dodge under a power line, nearly ran into a power plant smoke stack, knocked the tops out of a big ole Oak tree, put some dents in the lower wing leading edge on a biplane, ran the gear though some corn tassles, got nose to nose with a B-52 on a low level "oil burner" route and a bunch of other dumb stuff.

On of my favorite low flying pleasures..... and perhaps the safest.... was when I owned my Pitts S-1. I'd go down into the Missouri River bottoms where there was a big, flat, oval shaped field...probably 250 acres. It was surrounded on all sides by a tree line of 60 ft. tall oaks. The Missouri River, lined by trees curved around the field making up 2/3 of the circumference. I'd drop down into the field to about 20 ft. and race around and around the inside of the tree line at 150 mph. It was a real kick. No one around...not even a farm house for a couple of miles. It was probably 1 1/2 miles around the interior of that tree lined bowl.

Lots of fun...open cockpit: wind ripping my hair, smoking along right up next to and below the tree line .... making 90 degree banked turns at the corners....feeling the G forces(gotta pull back real hard on the stick.) Closest thing I ever got to air racing at Reno! And....I always came in first.

Oh well. Now at age 63 I just plod along in my Maule and pretend that I am Noel Wein.

Fantasy is so much better than reality.

Bob

nmflyguy wrote:OK, I'll play the role of the turd in the punchbowl on this thread ... but, uhhhh, I don't fly low, except for intended take-offs and landings.

For all the reasons that one can glean from reading all the other posts in this thread so far ... like famous instructors/authors getting killed flying low ("it can happen to anybody") by hitting river cables (let's not forget our other famous backcountry author, Sparky Imeson, who met his demise while flying low) ... make sure you concentrate extremely intensively on what's out your windshield, meaning that, uh, you really can't pay attention to anything else going on in your cockpit or on your panel ... watch for birds (I've already come way too close to those bastards on landings at the local airports here ... and I'm not talking pidgeons or doves - I'm talkin' about Canada geese and sandhill cranes!!!) ... be prepared (???) to ditch from only 150 feet (or even 50 feet) above the waves or river (how the hell do you set up a perfect ditching parallel to the waves, and get your own self prepared, let alone you passengers, when you've got maybe 3 seconds before you touch down???!!!) ... and by the way, if you do have a fuel management issue or an engine failure at 50 feet AGL, how much time does that leave you to solve an easy problem (like, uhhh, switching to the full tank, or applying carb heat or whatever) ... and, be careful that you properly judge your height above the water or the snow so that you don't get fooled into "controlled flight into terrain" (or water) ... whatever you do, don't look out your side window, 'cause, who knows, you wouldn't want to actually enjoy your low level flight for a second or two of distraction lest you fly into the ground or an obstacle ... and oh, by the way, make sure your life insurance is paid up!

Naw, no thanks. I'll stay high (or, at least, not as low as some on here like to fly). Personally, I enjoy flying, not dying.

Here's an old pilot's truism for you that's actually useful: The two most useless things to a pilot are altitude above you and runway behind you.

+1

motoadve wrote:A question about flying low.
What speeds or power settings you guys ususlly use?
High, slow, cruise?

For river runs, 90% power, high speed, no flaps.

Motoadve, please don't take our advice or precautions as some kind of endorsement. Obviously many things can kill you (or worse, ruin a good day of flying), when at low altitude. However, I commend your invitation for comments and advice from others to learn about low altitude dangers or tips that you may not have considered before.

Why is it ok for LSA , experimentals and ultralights to fly low and not certified planes?
Certifieds are more reliable, stronger airframes, some with STOl conversions can land as slow as an LSA.

By flying low ,mostly I mean cruising at 500 ft agl. not 50 ft.

Im not taking the advice as an endorsement.
But is good to know from more experienced pilots.

Only place I fly low is over the shore and water,if it is terrain , I wont fly below 500ft agl