Legal Briefing

Where Can You Go Upside Down And All Around?

Last month we reviewed what aerobatic flight is and what it isn't, and we learned that by definition, aerobatic flight is "an intentional maneuver involving an abrupt change in an aircraft's altitude, an abnormal attitude, or abnormal acceleration, not necessary for normal flight" ("Legal Briefing: Aerobatic Flight," May AOPA Flight Training). Broken down, then, an aerobatic maneuver must be one that is "intentional"; involves an "abrupt" change in the aircraft's attitude, an abnormal attitude, or an abnormal acceleration; and not be necessary for normal flight. Remember that "normal flight" includes training flights, so that if a smoothly executed spin is properly conducted as part of student flight training, it would not be considered aerobatic flight.

Now, let's look at the circumstance when you want to conduct aerobatic flight, but you don't know where to perform those loops and rolls. The federal aviation regulations provide that answer.

FAR 91.303 specifically governs operating in "aerobatic flight," and that regulation answers the question of where it can occur by defining where this type of flight activity may not be conducted. That is, no person may operate an aircraft in aerobatic flight -

(a) Over any congested area of a city, town, or settlement;

(b) Over an open-air assembly of persons;

(c) Within the lateral boundaries of the surface areas of Class B, Class C, Class D, or Class E airspace designated for an airport;

(d) Within four nautical miles of the centerline of any federal airway;

(e) Below an altitude of 1,500 feet above the surface; or

(f) When flight visibility is less than three statute miles.

By implication, aerobatic flight is permitted as long as none of these circumstances is present and the parachute and airplane requirements are met. And, for those maneuvers that are not aerobatic, they may be properly performed in these circumstances, as long as no other applicable regulations not prohibit them. So, for example, when the FAA was asked such a question about steep turns, stalls, recovery from unusual attitudes, and emergency descents incident to and necessary for a training flight (normal flight), the FAA agreed that the maneuvers would not be considered aerobatic. Hence, they may be performed on a federal airway when operating on an IFR clearance if the ATC clearance is given to the aircraft performing those maneuvers. The FAA said that as a good operating practice, ATC should be advised of the type of training maneuvers to be performed under those circumstances.

For instructors on these initial pilot training and pilot proficiency training flights, remember that you are pilot in command on all flights - regardless of who is manipulating the controls - where you are acting as an authorized instructor. As such, you are directly responsible for and the final authority as to the operation of that aircraft, including compliance with the situational restrictions of FAR 91.303. In addition, a flight instructor may be found to have operated in aerobatic flight if the flight instructor deliberately does nothing while permitting the student pilot to maneuver the aircraft into acrobatic flight, which is why it could be a good idea to respect the FAR 91.303 restrictions in some training operations.

So, if you are intending to do aerobatics in an airplane, the specifics of this regulation could become part of an aerobatic flight checklist. Before intentionally performing aerobatic maneuvers, make sure you've got three miles' visibility in flight; make sure you'll finish the maneuver above 1,500 feet; make sure that you're not over a congested area or an open-air assembly of people; and make sure you remain outside the confines of a federal airway and outside class B, C, and D airspace, as well as airport areas within Class E airspace. Parachute and airplane requirements need to be added to this checklist, and we'll review those requirements next month.

Kathy Yodice is an attorney with Yodice Associates in Washington, D.C., which provides legal counsel to AOPA and administers AOPA's Legal Services Plan. She is an instrument-rated private pilot.