Somewhat Scary Flight At Park

[Mavrick617]

So I found a very nice wide open park in my town about 2 miles away so I decided to go down this weekend and check it out. Ran through a few batteries in the spark and a few minutes into my third I was about 300' up and heard the worst possible thing I could at that moment. It was a small single prop type personal plane and it didn't look like it was anywhere near 500'.

The spark was right above me but I had a hard time seeing it so I just kept bringing her down, it wasn't enough time to land it but we obviously missed.

My question is there is a small airport about 10 miles away, however I looked up the FAA UAS site and it shows a 400' max about 2 miles away from where I was flying.

My question is is it safe to assume as long as I stay under 400' I should be safe? It really freaked me out and I've been keeping it close to home since then, going to go for the 107 which I hope will give me a little more confidence that I am being as responsible as possible.

Here is a screenshot, I was flying where the blue star is located.

 

[Spark 317]

I live within 5 miles of a grass strip airport, about 3 private airfields (farmers), and 15 miles from 2 minor airports that fly smaller jet aircraft.
Plus I'm in the flight approach path of an international airport but the're up there and not a problem.

You better believe I keep an eye and ear out for aircraft.
Like this bad boy that flew over once.
My trees are about 100' tall and i fly about 150' just to be safe.

 

[Kanehi]

Sometimes the height limit for within the airport radius is 100 ft. You also have to call the tower and inform them where, when and for how long you're going to be. I guess they have to check the area to make sure no planes are going to be where you are.

 

[RaspPiGuy]

If the airport is 10 miles away, you're fine. I have this happen too, about the same distance away from the airport here. Because of how large and loud the planes are compared to Spark, and because you've been staring at Spark for 30 minutes in the sky, it's easy to think the plane is under 400 feet. At that distance it should be well above 400 though. It's probably at 1000+, but just looks like it's going to clip your craft.

A few weeks ago I was at 300ft (Canadian max alt), when I heard a single prop coming from the west. I was very confident that I was in the right, but I lowered to 200 to be safe and watched the plane go over. I spun Spark around to face East, pushed the camera up, and snapped a bunch of pictures. After reviewing the pics, there was no plane in sight.. So in reality it was definitely so far above Spark that it was out of the FOV of the camera). It felt like it was at 300 feet, but I'm sure it was at 1000+.

 

[tvon]

Rule of thumb, always keep under 400ft, even if not near an airport. Thats the FAA's rule (in the US)

Think of the zones as upside cones. 400 ft is okay but not under a mile from a Class B, etc. .