Don't know why this suddenly popped to mind but - when there's an airshow with high performance aircraft, does the show promoter have to get special approval from the FAA for high speed flight below 10,000 feet?

Vic

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• RE: FAA Approval at airshows,aboyd, 03:35z, 04-22-03
• RE: FAA Approval at airshows,Patty_Wagstaff, 16:46z, 04-23-03
  • RE: FAA Approval at airshows,vgbaron, 15:29z, 04-24-03
  • RE: FAA Approval at airshows,Ben_Chiu, 18:01z, 04-24-03
  • RE: FAA Approval at airshows,apgherm, 21:12z, 05-17-03

See Chapter 49 of FAA General Order 8700.1, FAA General Aviation Inspector's Handbook at:

http://www1.faa.gov/avr/afs/faa/8700/8700_vol2/2_049_00.pdf

It describes the whole process of getting a waiver to conduct an air show. The air show waiver will specify which FARs (eg 91.303(e), aerobatics below 1,500 AGL) will be waived for the duration of the air show, and yes, maximum speed can be one of them, if you ask for it. See 91.905 for the list of FARs that can be waived.

I'm sure Patty knows this stuff way better than I do.

--
aboyd@igs.net ATP www.pittspecials.com

>Don't know why this suddenly popped to mind but - when
>there's an airshow with high performance aircraft, does
>the show promoter have to get special approval from the
>FAA for high speed flight below 10,000 feet?
>
>Vic
Hi Vic

Yep! You sure do have to get permission for flying above 250 knots below 10,000' at an airshow. The permission comes in the form of an FAA issued "Waiver" that the airshow obtains prior to the event. Not only are speed restrictions waived, but flying aerobatics below l500 in front of a crowd is wavied as well.

Best,
Patty

Thanx, Patty -

I knew they had to but as I thought of it, the logistics weren't readily apparent. Most people just go to an airshow without any though of the tremendous amount of work involved in coordinating civilian and military aircraft arrivals, departures, security, etc.

The more I think about it the more mind boggling it becomes <G>.

Have a great day!

Vic

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Hi Patty:

> Yep! You sure do have to get permission for flying above 250 knots below
> 10,000' at an airshow. The permission comes in the form of an FAA issued
> "Waiver" that the airshow obtains prior to the event. Not only are speed
> restrictions waived, but flying aerobatics below l500 in front of a
> crowd is wavied as well.

Thanks for the info. Am I right in assuming that the rules for spectators (e.g. how far away they must be from the runway etc.), are specified by the show coordinator (or insurance companies!) rather than the FAA?

Also, how's the season going so far? Did you see any drop off in attendance (perhaps due to the war) compared to last year?

Thanks!

Ben

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I watched a guy in a F-15 Strike Eagle do a low level over
our military base at .98 mach and 100 ft off the deck.He also did another pass and did a split s around the control tower.I think the FAA had 21 counts against him.I know that is extreme but you definitely need a permit to do any kind of aerobatics near a crowd.They had him for speed ,altitude,noise and a slew of other things.