Welcome Guest. Sign in or Signup

2 Answers

NWR flight restrictions

Asked by: 9728 views ,
Airspace, FAA Regulations

On the Seatle sectional, just off the Oregon coast at Nehalem Bay State (3S7), there's a charted notice: "NOTICE TO PILOTS - The Islands, Rocks, and Reefs along the Pacific coastline from 42°00'N to 46°00'N are National Wildlife Refugues. Low flight may disturb wildlife resulting in a violation of Federal law."

 

Meanwhile, AIM 7-5-6 reads, in part:

"b. Pilots are requested to maintain a minimum altitude of 2,000 feet above the surface of the following: National Parks, Monuments, Seashores, Lakeshores, Recreation Areas and Scenic Riverways administered by the National Park Service, National Wildlife Refuges, Big Game Refuges, Game Ranges and Wildlife Ranges administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Wilderness and Primitive areas administered by the U.S. Forest Service.

 

c. Federal statutes prohibit certain types of flight activity and/or provide altitude restrictions over designated U.S. Wildlife Refuges, Parks, and Forest Service Areas. These designated areas, for example: Boundary Waters Canoe Wilderness Areas, Minnesota; Haleakala National Park, Hawaii; Yosemite National Park, California; and Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona, are charted on Sectional Charts."

 

I've seen the Oregon coast by land, and I'd love to have a scenic flight there when I visit in a couple weeks, but I'm confused by the ambiguous nature of the charted notice. The sectionals for the other examples cited in the AIM provide clear guidence on altitudes and areas to avoid. How exactly does one operate an airplane so as not to disturb wildlife? Is maintaining 2000' AGL sufficient?

Ace Any FAA Written Test!
Actual FAA Questions / Free Lifetime Updates
The best explanations in the business
Fast, efficient study.
Pass Your Checkride With Confidence!
FAA Practical Test prep that reflects actual checkrides.
Any checkride: Airplane, Helicopter, Glider, etc.
Written and maintained by actual pilot examiners and master CFIs.
The World's Most Trusted eLogbook
Be Organized, Current, Professional, and Safe.
Highly customizable - for student pilots through pros.
Free Transition Service for users of other eLogs.
Our sincere thanks to pilots such as yourself who support AskACFI while helping themselves by using the awesome PC, Mac, iPhone/iPad, and Android aviation apps of our sponsors.

2 Answers



  1. Bob Watson on Jul 26, 2012

    Whether or not 2,000′ AGL is sufficient depends on who you ask, but it’s a good place to start. The intent of these restrictions is to prevent otherwise legal, low-altitude flights in areas where the animals (and people) are sensitive to noisy intrusions.
     
    In some places, it’s a recommendation, while in others, like the Washington State coastline, the restrictions have been enacted as a federal law. Just be careful, and do your homework before you go to one of these places. They are often amazingly beautiful to visit, and so they sometimes see a lot of traffic (excption: Hawaii’s volcanoes ALWAYS see a lot of traffic), but even from 2,000 AGL they are usually worth the visit.

    +1 Votes Thumb up 1 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes



  2. John D. Collins on Jul 26, 2012

    I recently attended a meeting in Washington DC for ACF (Aernautical Charting Forum) that discussed these areas depicted on the west coast.  They are  defined in an obscure section of the federal regulations and carry stiff fines such as $10,000 if you violate the airspace. It doesn’t make any differnce if it was inadvertent and the way the regulation is written, there isn’t an exception for takeoff and landing.  There might even be some instrument approaches that could conflict with these requlations and it was being investigated. AeroNav who produces the charts were adding these areas to the affected sectionals as they were not all depicted.  Bottom line is you must not violate the restriction as there are huge fines if you are caught. 

    -2 Votes Thumb up 0 Votes Thumb down 2 Votes


The following terms have been auto-detected the question above and any answers or discussion provided. Click on a term to see its definition from the Dauntless Aviation JargonBuster Glossary.

Answer Question

Our sincere thanks to all who contribute constructively to this forum in answering flight training questions. If you are a flight instructor or represent a flight school / FBO offering flight instruction, you are welcome to include links to your site and related contact information as it pertains to offering local flight instruction in a specific geographic area. Additionally, direct links to FAA and related official government sources of information are welcome. However we thank you for your understanding that links to other sites or text that may be construed as explicit or implicit advertising of other business, sites, or goods/services are not permitted even if such links nominally are relevant to the question asked.