SonexBuilders.net

Some of you may know I’m a volunteer safety rep for the FAA WINGS program. That doesn’t mean I’ve drunk the Kool-Aid and work for the FAA though! Just means I pass along safety stuff and give some talks at WINGS safety events.

So the bad news is that the FAA called this morning. They are looking into a low flying complaint about a Sonex that was buzzing so low over the town of Marshfield, MA on November 8th that it was caught on the town CCTV’s and the chief of police is not happy. Neither are the FAA. There is also some evidence that the plane has been performing Acro on Victor airways off Plymouth too – which might seem OK to be out over the water. But acro in the vicinity of V141 is a no-no.

I’m NOT out to be a killjoy. But if the FAA are calling - then this does NO GOOD for the Sonex community as a whole. Our accident rate is not terrific and a crash into a town while buzzing it would be a disaster at any number of levels. Insurance rates are bad enough as they are – and as recently discussed on the Builders and Enthusiasts Forum – we have a responsibility to each other to not make things any worse.

Whoever it was - please knock off the buzzing and the acro in airspace that doesn’t meet the regs.

Here's a suggestion for anyone doing aerobatics around congested airspace like we have around Boston. I carry a laminated cheat sheet in my airplane so I know the limits of the areas I can do aerobatics in. You can see mine here: https://flic.kr/p/2k5VyYW

The areas on blue are acceptable areas, off of airways, etc.

Mike,

Nice!

For a non-native English speaker/reader, I got the idea of the problem here, but what exactly do you mean by “Buzzing”?

Carlos

Carlos Trigo wrote:For a non-native English speaker/reader, I got the idea of the problem here, but what exactly do you mean by “Buzzing”?

Carlos

Low flying - below minimum safe altitude - often associated with showing off.

Thanks

A picture is worth a thousand words!

Post by mike.smith » Thu Nov 12, 2020 6:58 pm

Here's a suggestion for anyone doing aerobatics around congested airspace like we have around Boston. I carry a laminated cheat sheet in my airplane so I know the limits of the areas I can do aerobatics in. You can see mine here: https://flic.kr/p/2k5VyYW

The areas on blue are acceptable areas, off of airways, etc.

Mike, I love your card showing your safe aerobatic areas. Is this something I could calculate myself? I live a bit further south, in Foster, RI, and my plan is to base out of Danielson Airport (KLZD). I want to find what places would be safe for aerobatic practice once I get to that point in Phase 1. it looks like it needs to be 4 miles clear of airways and outside Class C, any other requirements? I remember doing aerobatics somewhere in that area with my father in his 150 aerobat when I was 8 or 9, but no idea where that would fall on a sectional; I'm guessing somewhere in the Scituate practice area. I've got plenty of expired sectionals to draw up a card like yours!

Ian

Ian, Stay 4 miles either side of federal airways, in Class G or E airspace and above 1,500ft. Nit iver congested and with a clear area to put diwn if anything goes wrong.

For you/me - parts of Block Island Sound north if the island and south of the beach. or south of Horseneck beach. You are not going to find it easy around Scituate. In fact Providence ATC have asked Horizon - the school at KPVD to not use Scituate for regular training if possible. It's too hard to sequence stuff into KPVD. The usable space for acro is tiny to not usable.

Graeme,

That’s unfortunate it had to happen. Are they sure it’s a Sonex? Did they have any ADS-B info to determine which specific airplane it was?

With the technology today, it wouldn’t surprise me if the owner of that actual airplane gets a letter in the mail really soon!

I have two primary areas I do aerobatics, and I try to alternate between them (different days) so I don't create the same noise in the same location every time. I also generally stay between 3,000' and 5,000'. Not only safer, but it keeps the noise further away from the ground.