Do you know if thereare any FAA regs about take-off and landing in residential neighborhoods?  The a-hole developer next door had an open house today to try to sell homes in his new devolopment.  He hired a helo to give the kiddies rides while he made the sales pitch to the parents. Unfortunately, this went on for about 3 hours - constant take-off and landings, creating a real nuissance, and I believe, a safety hazzard.  The state police said it was out of their jurisdiction and township supervisors could find no local ordinance against it.  Is there any FAA regs I could use to prevent this from happening again - because I'm sure it will until the devoloper sells all his homes.

What's wrong with letting the kids enjoy a ride? Not like they are putting an airport in next door. I would imagine that the guy flying the aircraft did his homework regarding if he would be violated before he agreed to do the job. What made it a safety hazard? Were there high voltage power lines very close? Lots of trees? No offense, but you could call and complain, but it would just get files with all the 100s of other complaints that were called in that day. Getting so we cannot fly anywhere off post without getting complaints called in.

Aviator

I'm a helicopter pilot.  Basically,  you can land anywhere that you have permission and you are not placing persons on the ground in peril.  I will check for the rule.  

So if he is going in and out in a safe manner and on private property with permission and no local ordinances not placing persons or property in danger he is ok.  

You could walk over and mention it.  Just get a free ride.  I wish they would do that around my house!

Perhaps if you mentioned something they could fly in and out a different way.  Most helicopter pilots I know like to make as little of a stir as they can.  We think they are neat aircraft and do not want further restrictive legislation and we try to fly neighbor friendly.

I hope it works out for you.  Get the name of the pilot and call him and tell him your concerns.  He has a job to do.  But if given a chance he will probably try to accomodate you if he can without jeopardizing the job at hand.

Philicopter

I have no problem with letting the kiddies take a helo ride or two, but after getting my house buzzed by a low flyover every 10-15 minutes for about 3 hrs, I tend to get a little cranky.  At the very least, he could have moved his flight path away from existing residences to some of the open and uninhabited land, and flown higher.  Hell, this guy was so low I could have easily pegged him with a BB gun.  There are lots of trees in the area and a few power lines, though the pilot was careful to takeoff and land in a clear part of an open field.  Maybe I'm being a cranky old SOB about this, but I try to respect my neighbors' peace and privacy; I'd just like the same in return.  I mean, the people moving in this neighborhood are not the type who would tolerate the occasional noise of automatic weapons fire in the woods; and I wouldn't ask them to or expect it.  I would however, expect them to respect my peace and privacy enough to not buzz my house and make a nuissance out of themselves.

But then again, maybe I am just turning into a cranky old fart.

The best thing to do is handle it like you would any other troublesome neighbor.  Go to the developer himself and complain.  The last thing a developer wants is pissed off neighbors talking to potential home buyers.  You could aslo go to the pilot himself and ask him to fly a different route.  Did you try any of these?  If they don't work, you could always get some bad press going on the local news, or go to court and get a restraining order or something.  Your problem is not with the helicopter, but with the developer.  He's using it as a way to boost sales.  If it becomes a liability that is actually hurting sales, then he won't be doing it anymore.

The FAA is concerned only with the safe operation of air traffic.  As a rule they don't get like to get involved with anything on the ground.  The unique capabilities of helicopters make them quite safe to operate in congested areas.  Also the guy is a commercial pilot if he's hauling passengers.  Because of cost, there's very few helicopter pilots that aren't highly trained.  You have a great deal more to fear from the cars driving down your street, than a helicopter flying over your house.

I can understand you concerns about noise.  I didn't buy a house anywhere near an airport because I didn't want to be near jet noise.  You bought your house and didn't expect it to have air traffic overhead either.  The best response you have though is to try and solve it at a local level.  The farther away from local (i.e. federal level-FAA) level you get, the less response you'll get.  The FAA's worried about getting millions of paying passengers from one end of the country to the other without getting any of them killed.  Not the noise concerns of one guy in some housing tract that got overflown on day for three hours.  That's not to say you don't have a legit beef, but that's like trying to get the EPA to get your neighbor to clean up his yard.  Stay local and you'll get better results.

Ross
TH-55
UH-1H