And whether it's legal or not, it's certainly not wise to shoot yourself down!

[url]http://www.faa.gov/avr/aai/H_0326_N.txt[/url]

IDENTIFICATION
Regis#: 22EV        
Make/Model: PA18      
Description: PA-18 Super Cub (L-18C, L-21,
Date: 03/25/2002     Time: 1430

Event Type: Accident  
Highest Injury: Serious    
Mid Air: N    
Missing: N
Damage: Substantial

LOCATION
City: GLASGOW   State: MT   Country: US

DESCRIPTION
ACFT PASSENGER ACCIDENTLY DISCHARGED HIS SHOTGUN WHILE COYOTE HUNTING AND SHOT THE RIGHT WING OF THE ACFT, THE ACFT SUBSEQUENTLY CRASHED, AND THE 2 POB SUSTAINED SERIOUS INJURIES, GLASGOW, MT.

I'm quite sure that it's illegal to hunt waterfowl from aircraft in Montana.  

Well, I have a quad .50 on my C-210, and it's syncronised to shoot between the prop blades, so that could never happen to me.

The 2.75 inch WP rockets on the hardpoints can be tricky though.

It's illegal thoughout the U.S.  As I understand it this aircraft was operating under a federal wildlife control program, thus it was, as Boomer so eloquently put it, legit but unwise.  Frankly the incident is a bit surprising, as the strucure of a PA-18 is mostly 4130 tubing and fabric.  It takes a fair amount of skill to render it unairworthy with just one random shot.

In the 1980s I believe it was legal to hunt fox and coyote from aircraft in Montana. It may still be. I say this only because I know someone, a crop-duster, who did this for winter time employment and their was absolutely no hiding any part of it.

It is unless you're "above the law"

It never ceases to amaze me just how lazy some "sportsman" can be.

This is your Federal Government.  Reading is fundamental.

I always wanted to do the Marlin Perkins thing
in Africa and hunt out of a helicoptor.That
would be awesome!Yes it's lazy,but you'd cover
LOTS of ground in short order.

[rolleyes]

Not only is it illegal , but in Alaska and maybe all 50 states you can not even hunt game you have spotted from a plane the same day !! In fact i doubt you can be in radio contact either.

It's funny you ask, because I'm sitting in my Avaition Law Class right now. As far as I know, there is nothing in the Federal Aviation Regulations against it except maybe:

FAR 91.15:
"No pilot in command of a civil aircraft may allow any object to be dropped from that aircraft in flight that creates a hazard to persons or property. However, this section does not prohibit the dropping of any object if reasonable precautions are taken to avoid injury or damage to persons or property."

And they can almost always nail you with this:

FAR 91.13
"(A)NO persone may operate and aircraft in a careless and reckless manner, etc...."

(B)No person may operate and aircraft other than the purpose of air navigation, etc.... blah blah...... in a careless or reckless manner so as to endanger life or property of another."

So I would say YES. It is illegal according to Federal Aviation Law.

Marinegrunt - that is because it is not an aviation offense it is a hunting offense, trust me the federal wildlife officers will hang your ass out to dry for this. Here is an incident from the FWOA page:

Big game guide James M. Fejes was sentenced on April 23, 1999, in U.S. District Court for conspiracy and felony violations of the Lacey Act. U.S. District Court Judge H. Russel Holland sentenced Fejes to imprisonment for a period of 12 months, ordered him to pay a $5,000 fine and $300 in Special Assessments, and to two years' of supervised release upon his release from imprisonment. Fejes is also facing forfeiture of two airplanes as a result of a separate civil case filed by the United States. Judge Holland ordered that Fejes serve six months and a day in a Bureau of Prisons facility, followed by six months in community confinement. Fejes was convicted on February 23, 1999, for conspiring with his employees, and Jon S. ``Buck'' McNeely, of Cape Girardeau, MO, to violate the Lacey Act.

The federal offenses were based on underlying violations of the well known State law prohibiting hunting on the same day that a person has flown in an airplane. The case was investigated by the Alaska Department of Public Safety's Division of Fish and Wildlife Protection and agents of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. This is one of the cases discussed by DOJ Attorney Bob Anderson at the in­service at the NCTC.

One more, this is for hunting w/radio contact from a plane

On June 25th, a federal jury in Minneapolis found John Stone, Jr., a White Earth Indian reservation conservation officer, guilty of harassing a moose with an airplane in violation of the Airborne Hunting Act. Two other people - pilot Enriquie Vasquez and airplane owner Roger Oberg, who rented the plane to the reservation - were acquitted of the violation.

In March, 1995, leaders on the reservation, which is located in northwestern Minnesota, authorized the killing of the moose for a powwow celebration. An airplane was rented by the tribal council to locate a moose so hunters on the ground could shoot it. On the first flight, conservation officer Stone was in the airplane when a moose was located. Hunters tried walking in on the moose to shoot it on the following morning, but failed.

The airplane was rented a second day. Stone was in the plane using a radio to direct hunters on the ground to the moose. This attempt also failed, so the airplane was rented one more time. Stone, again in the airplane, used a radio to direct hunters to the moose, which was killed.

On that same day, two witnesses, one of them a state conservation officer, witnessed the airplane chasing the moose at what they said was "telephone pole height and tree-top height." The moose ran across the highway in front of the witness, and the airplane was flying very low.

AUSA Margaret Chutich brought charges for harassing the moose under the act itself, rather than for hunting the moose under the regulations, because of the uncertainty of the regulation prohibitions being more stringent than the law.

In pre-trial motions, Stone asked for a dismissal on grounds that the federal government lacked jurisdiction because of treaties. The magistrate denied the motion, as did the district court judge.

A pre-sentence investigation was ordered before sentencing. Charges may be filed on others involved in the investigation. The moose was butchered by tribal members on the reservation, but the freezer quit working and the meat spoiled.

I don't think coyotes are considered game animals in Montana.  Don't confuse the killing of livestock eaters with sport hunting.

I remember reading about some kind of stink in Alaska because they wanted to shoot wolves from airplanes to reduce their impact on moose. The moose were worth money from sportsmen and the wolves were not.  The wolve lovers howled loud.