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Our airport has industrial buildings off one end of the runway, and a sports complex is going in on the other end. I realize that Parts 103.15 & 103.17 prohibit flight over populated areas and certain airspace, but wonder if there is any allowance for approaching a runway similar to Part 91.119 "Except when necessary for takeoff or landing, no person may operate an aircraft below the following..."
No. Industrial buildings however do not necessarily make a "congested area," however.
As for the class E surface area, individual or blanket authorization needs to be obtained.
On one end of our runway we have homes. No ultralights fly over these homes. Its one of those things...If its going to go bad its going to go bad over one of them homes. Why even push your luck. The home owners are happy and we are happy.
If you have corn of fields on the sides of your runway do not over fly the homes but hold a tight pattern and stay over the runway. Once you get some altitude exit the pattern, but not over the homes. Do not worry about how you exit the pattern just exit. Now when coming in to land again do not over fly the homes. Do not drag in a long descent to the runway. Bring it in short and sweet.
Again Home owners are happy and I love the short and sweet landing instead of dragging it in.
This may not be an ultralight but this man explains what I am talking about...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6q2VKsvQEQ
I get to work with the FAA a lot over airspace, so I can offer some comments on " industrial buildings off one end of the runway, and a sports complex"
The wording of 14 CFR 103.15 is "No person may operate an ultralight vehicle over any congested area of a city, town, or settlement, or over any open air assembly of persons."
For better or worse, FAA case law seems to say that a "congested area" is about 10 houses clustered together, or arguably a school. The FAR's do not contain a definition of "congested" area" and so you have to look at FAA enforcement cases to see what the term means. Since most pilots don't spend their time looking at this stuff it is best to be cautious as suggested in the post(s) above.
"Open air assembly of persons" clearly covers an outdoor sports complex when a sporting event with spectators as well as participants is taking place. If the "sports complex" is idle and unoccupied, then the prohibition does not apply. I will also suggest that reading the text like a lawyer, an indoor event does not fall within this prohibition.
Now Part 103 does not contain any language that allows for traffic patterns. Part 91 does, but ultralight flying machines are not covered by Part 91. Put an N-number on the machine and you can operate under Part 91. But you then can't operate under Part 103. The FAA intended this to be an either-or decision.
Some years ago, Essell & Faulkner ran into the Part 103 vs Part 91 issue when they took their Ultralight wing walking act to airshows. Great act. But FAA told them that they could not fly in airshow waivered airspace as a Part 103 Ultralight. So they bit the bullet and put an N-number of the machine and lived mostly happily ever after. Used to see them at Sun-N-Fun and really enjoyed their creativity.
Hope this info helps,
Wes
N78PS
Thanks for the responses. I didn't think there was a exemption, but wanted to make sure before I spread that information around.
Ryan
Just for completeness, while Part 103 does not contain any language that allows for traffic patterns, AC 90-66a does define the traffic patterns ULs are supposed to fly at airports.