Statement of purpose

How we carry it out

• Low flying training takes place below 2,000 ft. (500 ft. for helicopters and light aircraft). Fast jets and Hercules transport aircraft are generally expected to maintain a minimum separation distance of 250 ft. between the ground or any structure.
• We insist that each low flying sortie is authorised in advance, and that aircrew are properly prepared and capable of what is planned.
• We consider the safety of those on the ground and in the air to be of the greatest importance. Large areas of population are avoided and livestock where possible.
• We endeavour to limit jet aircraft speeds to minimise disturbance. Noise assessments for new aircraft types are carried out when they enter service.
• We make every effort to restrict low flying to weekdays between 7am and 11pm. We provide advance warning for exercises involving large amounts of low flying or unusual activity, very late night flying and operational low flying training between 250 and 100 ft. Aircrew endeavour not to fly their sorties along roads or follow coastlines, whenever possible.

Monitoring and management

• We restrict the amount of low flying training to that necessary for aircrew to reach and maintain their operational effectiveness.
• We make every effort to spread low flying widely across the UK and report to Parliament each year how successful we have been. We provide details annually about the number of hours flown by fixed and rotary-wing aircraft.
• We enforce stringent regulations for low flying. Aircrew performance is monitored by more experienced officers throughout their careers and Defence Flying Complaints Investigation Team carry out covert monitoring, using a Skyguard radar, to measure military aircraft heights and speeds.
• Breaches of regulations sometimes occur but we generally find that they are inadvertent. They usually result from simple navigation errors, deviations from planned routes to avoid weather or other aerial activity, or equipment malfunction. Nevertheless, we treat these incidents very seriously. Disciplinary action, ranging from interviews with senior officers to Courts Martial, can be invoked.

Complaints