Low Flying Rules in The UK
In the UK, the Rules of the Air define clearly in the principles of Low Flying Rules in Rule 5. The main principle is that an aircraft must always be able to perform an emergency landing in a case of engine failure. Hence these three criteria:
500 ft rule An aircraft must not fly closer than 500 ft to any person, vessel, vehicle, building or structure.
1000 ft rule If an aircraft is flying over a congested area (town, settlement, etc.) it must fly high enough so that in the case of an engine failure, it is able to land clear without being a danger to people AND it must not fly less than 1000 ft above the highest fixed object within 600m of the aircraft.
Defined exemptions include normal take-off and landing at aerodromes, helicopters, police, air displays and hill-soaring in gliders.
Read more about this topic: Visual Flight Rules
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