My Near Miss
I was flying my Phantom 4 over Lake Conroe, TX, on Jan 30, 2017, between 150-200 feet when I heard a small plane approaching. It was just luck that I was able to record the plane nearly missing my quad copter.
Dennis,
There are plenty of irresponsible GA pilots out there. He very likely was operating illegally, though it's probably not as bad as you think. He had to be at least 500 feet above those houses when he flew over them, at that looks congested to me so he should have been at 1000' AGL, but if there were no persons, vessels, vehicles or structures on that lake, he could legally descend below 500 feet while over open water. (See Part 91.119c below) He obviously didn't see you and fortunately it didn't end up with your drone in his windshield.
On the other hand, looking at your video and comparing it to the same location in Google Earth, appears to indicate that you may have also been above 400 feet. The altitude in Google Earth required to get the same perspective as your position in the video was 544 feet AGL. Perhaps you were mistaken and using metric rather than imperial units?
Either way, glad it worked out ok for both of you.
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§ 91.119 Minimum safe altitudes: General.
Except when necessary for takeoff or landing, no person may operate an aircraft below the following altitudes:
(a)Anywhere. An altitude allowing, if a power unit fails, an emergency landing without undue hazard to persons or property on the surface.
(b)Over congested areas. Over any congested area of a city, town, or settlement, or over any open air assembly of persons, an altitude of 1,000 feet above the highest obstacle within a horizontal radius of 2,000 feet of the aircraft.
(c)Over other than congested areas. An altitude of 500 feet above the surface, except over open water or sparsely populated areas. In those cases, the aircraft may not be operated closer than 500 feet to any person, vessel, vehicle, or structure.
(d)Helicopters, powered parachutes, and weight-shift-control aircraft. If the operation is conducted without hazard to persons or property on the surface -
(1) A helicopter may be operated at less than the minimums prescribed in paragraph (b) or (c) of this section, provided each personoperating the helicopter complies with any routes or altitudes specifically prescribed for helicopters by the FAA; and
(2) A powered parachute or weight-shift-control aircraft may be operated at less than the minimums prescribed in paragraph (c) of this section.
[Doc. No. 18334, 54 FR 34294, Aug. 18, 1989, as amended by Amdt. 91-311, 75 FR 5223, Feb. 1, 2010]