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7 Answers

What minimum altitude over wildlife refuge?

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FAA Regulations

What is the minimum altitude allowed by FAA Reg over a wildlife refuge?

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7 Answers



  1. KDS on Jan 11, 2019

    The REQUESTED altitude is 2,000′ AGL. However, it’s not regulatory. So, if that horrible days comes when the ceiling drops down and you have to fly across a wildlife refuge at 1,000′ AGL, you’re legal to do so. But, if you don’t need to, then comply with the request.

    You also want to be watchful for birds in that area. You don’t want to find yourself doing a “Sully” and having to put it down in a duck pond.

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  2. Russ MacDonald on Jan 11, 2019

    Thanks, I knew about the recommendations, but I wasn’t sure about whether or not any of those were regulatory.

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  3. Best Answer


    John D Collins on Jan 11, 2019

    You need to read the underlying legislation or regulation to know what is permitted. For example there are NOAA regulations that prohibit flight operations below 1000 AGL (15 CFR 922) for certain Marine Sanctuary. The penalties can be enormous, like $100,000 per day for a violation and they are prescribed by the act or the regulating authority and are not contained in the FAR. See the area off shore near Santa Cruz and Monterrey Bay California for examples.

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  4. Russ MacDonald on Jan 11, 2019

    John,

    Thanks for that. I thought I remembered that some wildlife areas were regulated elsewhere. I wonder how you are supposed to know where to look for these regulations?

    This all came up when one of my students asked me the question. I’m pretty sure none of the wildlife refuges near the coast of Georgia are not regulated by any local authority, but it would be nice to know for sure! I have told him just to maintain at least 2000 feet around here.

    On the positive side, I’ve never heard of anyone being busted for flying too low in a wildlife sanctuary, and I’ve been doing this for 45 years.

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  5. John D Collins on Jan 12, 2019

    AC 91-36D describes the FAA policy for noise sensitive areas. The sectional charts calls out references to other regulations when they conflict, so I interpret the wild life refuges identified on the sectional off the Georgia coast to be covered by the policy, but there is an outline of the Monterrey Bay National Marine Sanctuary area (shown within a red line with red dots inside the area) and a charted note that reads as:

    “Flight operations below 1000′ AGL over the designated areas within the Monterrey Bay National Marine Sanctuary violate NOAA regulations (See 15 CFR 922).”

    There is also a bold printed legend on the chart for NOAA Regulated National Marine Sanctuary Designated Areas and this link:

    https://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/flight/

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  6. Russ MacDonald on Jan 12, 2019

    John, thanks, again.

    I was aware of AC 91-36D, and I referred this to my student, but I was not aware of the NOAA position on Marine Sanctuaries. That’s a good link to know. I’ve saved it.

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  7. Mark Kolber on Jan 13, 2019

    Good discussion.

    One of the more universal lessons here is that the FAA is not the only government agency which has rules applicable to flight activities.

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