Min altitude over a blasting area

[Nanart]

Whats the minimum altitude you can fly over a blasting area, I believe its 3000 AGL but im not positive...

[Edelweiss air]

Good question ? I asked this in class a while ago and no one knew the correct answer.

[gustind]

Check the AIM.

[hairdo]

Page A48 of the CFS says 3000' AGL (bottom right). Don't have a reference from the AIM or CARs.

[767]

3000 AGL

[MichaelP]

Surely you need to know the depth of the explosion, the type of rock, the amount of and grade of TNT being used, and to calculate the maximum altitude a rock of sufficient size to damage your aircraft can penetrate.

Then there's the shock wave of course...

Is 3,000 feet enough?
How about horizontal distance vs height above the explosion?

Has anyone seen blasting going on at the south end of the Pitt Lake practice area?

[Bushav8er]

As stated min. 3000', AIM & CFS but active areas are NOTAM'd and often state the altitudes and they do vary ie.

BLASTING AREA 2 NM RADIUS 491733N 824831W
(APRX 15 NM WSW AD) SFC TO 2300 FT AGL 3200 MSL 1700/1800 AND
2030/2230 DLY

[Hawkeye4077]

Just stay away..... fly around them and you'll be ok

[Invertago]

Forget altitude... just make sure your timing is good

[Ref Plus 10]

I suppose it would all depend on your intentions, yea? Safe flight or...otherwise...Personally I'll just steer clear, I've felt what those little bitty explosives can do

[HavaJava]

I'm having a really hard time finding the actual regulation that says 3000' AGL. I have searched the AIM but can't find it.

Can someone give me the reference?

[sapper6fd]

Related but unrelated, I spent 5 years in the military as a Combat Engineer with a trade in Explosive Ordinance Disposal (hence my user name - Sapper 6 FD, as in 6 Field Engineer Squadron). I laugh at the minimums over a blasting area because there are three safety distances when using Explosives in the Canadian Forces - all depending on what is being blown.

Wood demolitions - 300 meters (984 Feet)
Concrete, Rock and Stones - 500 Meters (1640 Feet)
Any type of metal - 1 KM (3280 Feet).

This is all horizontal distances of course, but that being said gravity is still a force at play and 3000 AGL seem a bit low to me. I've done bridge demolitions and been 1 KM or farther away and still had metal, rock and all sorts of other crap flying by me at mach 6 that would have easily taken my head off had it not been for concrete bunkers. I’m more than positive the energy in those objects would easily rip through a wing and puncture a fuel tank without question.

[rigpiggy]

Look at # 10

Pilot's Ten Commandments

1. Thou shalt abstain from the intersection takeoff for,
verily, the runway behind thee, as the altitude above thee,
cometh not to thine aid when thou needest them.

2. Thou shalt not linger on active runways
lest thou become like unto ground sirloin.

3. Ignorest thou not thy checklists for many
are the switches, handles, gauges and other demons
awaiting to take cruel vengeance upon thee.

4. Thou shalt cast thine eyes to thy right and also to thy left
as thou passeth through the firmament
lest thy fellow pilots bring flowers to thy widow
and comfort her in other ways.

5. Buzzeth not, for this shall surely incur the wrath
of thy neighbors and the fury of the FAA
shall be called down upon thy head.

6. Thou shalt be ever mindful of thy fuel lest there be nothing
in thy tank to sustain thee upon the air and thy days be made short.

7. Trust not thine eyes to lead thee through the cloud
lest the Archangel Gabriel await thee therein.

8. Thou shalt not trespass into the thunderstorm
lest the tempest rend the wings from thy chariot
and cast thee naked into the firmament.

9. Put not thy trust in weather prophets,
for when the truth is not in, then they shall not
accompany thee among thy ancestors.

10. Often shalt thou confirm thine airspeed on final
lest the earth rise up and smite thee.

[FlyYukon]

A couple years ago they were doing some blasting to make a road near the mobile home park I have a trailer in. The crews did not use proper precautions on some blasts, as they thought they were far enough away, but nonetheless, among a mesload of debris (rock) a basketball sized chunck crashed through the roof of a trailer nearly hitting the occupents inside!

So, I would avoid any active blasting area over and above any notam'd restrictions!

FY