low flying helicopters

dozzie

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I apologise if this has been asked before.

Does anyone know who I can contact to stop lowflying helicopters and hot air balloons going over my yard and paddocks?

The helicopters have been so low recently and fly the length of the yard in the dark as if they are using the lights as a guide!! I do feel its an accident waiting to happen.

Trouble is I dont know where they are from.

Should I contact the aviation authorities? Or is there somewhere else I can go to?

Any advice as to whom I should contact and how I should approach the issues from anyone would be greatly appreciated.
 
Depends where they're from. MOD have a helpline for their low flying aircraft which you can ring up and find out when they are doing low flying exercises. Sorry, rather uselessly I don't have the number! Doesn't necessarily stop them, but you can work round it. Police helicopters, the ones with searchlights you can't really do anything about. Balloons are more difficult. They have little control over where the balloon goes due to thermals, but there is a legal horse case which says they must have consideration for those under them and should not for instance, fire up the balloon right over a horse and rider. I expect that means as long as it's not an emergency. I live near a major balloon centre and can often have gatherings of 20 or so balloons in the sky at once. My horses have got used to them now, though they still look at them. Oddly, they are more concerned before they can see them than when they are actually overhead. My mare can sort of sense them before she sees them.
 
There is a balloon that regularly flies over the farm I keep Chex on, they often land in the next door field. Drives the horses crazy, there's always one that spooks and starts then off. Don't think there's much that can be done about it really, they've seen it scares the horses but still fly over all the time!
 
You can ask the nationall balloning association to advise their members to keep away from your area or at least fligh high over it. The same applies to the civil aviation authorities as they can ensure that helicopters are advised not to fly low near you. Also wear a Hi-Viz gear so that they can spot you.
 
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