Wizarding World - Diagon Alley Discussion (Opens 2014)
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How about consulting a government contact to get some high-res, uber-detailed SATELLITE imagery? You know, zoomed in to the Nth degree to see the logos on the construction workers boots? Maybe with some X-ray abilities to see THROUGH the roof of Gringotts and into the actual building? :drool:
- Jan 9, 2013
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I'd be willing to donate. I'm sure we could get a bunch of people willing to put in $10 or so to get the funds needed.Ok, I'll look into setting one up.
We should start a poll to see who would be willing to chip in and how much. The options could be
Not at this Time
$5
$10
$20
$30
More than $30
This would give us a good idea as to whether we could make our goal to send two people up in the helicopter with cameras. On a side note, doors off being in a helicopter is an amazing experience. Never understood why people want the doors on, I mean you get such a better view with them off and if the helicopter crashes you are in trouble with or without the doors
Not at this Time
$5
$10
$20
$30
More than $30
This would give us a good idea as to whether we could make our goal to send two people up in the helicopter with cameras. On a side note, doors off being in a helicopter is an amazing experience. Never understood why people want the doors on, I mean you get such a better view with them off and if the helicopter crashes you are in trouble with or without the doors
For quality picture taking you HAVE to take the doors off. The glass (which isn't actually glass, but scratched up plexiglass) really effects the quality.
Agreed. Which is why I don't understand why all my friends when they went to Hawaii did doors on. Our pictures from our trip were so much better than all their pictures. It was never a thought in our minds, if we were going, we were going with doors off. So we found a company that only does doors off tours, so it wasn't more expensive.
Sorry....:focus:
I would be to nervous to focus on taking pictures in a doors open helicopter
We had camera straps around our necks to prevent from loosing the camera :smiley:
Forget the camera, id be more worried about me
You are well strapped in. I never once feared for my life and we had the ex-Vietnam guy who was CRAZY. But he took us to some amazing places because he would fly faster than most and take short cuts that others would not do. So we got to see some places most helicopters don't go to. So it was a good crazy.
Let me be the first to donate
Okay, that'll be about $100 each. I'll set up the donation button. :rofl:
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Forget the camera, id be more worried about me
If you fall out just remember to keep shooting all the way down!
What is the lowest a helicopter can hover in Orange County? I have never known what the legal ceiling is. (I await DH's response)
It's funny you should ask that. I happen to be an Air Traffic Controller for the FAA.
There are generally pretty hard/fast rules on the FAA's FARs (Federal Aviation Regulations), but things can get a bit fuzzy at times and helicopters almost ALWAYS have an exception to the hard/fast rules. Here's the word straight from the FAR's:
Except when necessary for takeoff or landing, no person may operate an aircraft below the following altitudes:
(a) Anywhere. An altitude allowing, if a power unit fails, an emergency landing without undue hazard to persons or property on the surface.
(b) Over congested areas. Over any congested area of a city, town, or settlement, or over any open air assembly of persons, an altitude of 1,000 feet above the highest obstacle within a horizontal radius of 2,000 feet of the aircraft.
(c) Over other than congested areas. An altitude of 500 feet above the surface, except over open water or sparsely populated areas. In those cases, the aircraft may not be operated closer than 500 feet to any person, vessel, vehicle, or structure.
(d) Helicopters. Helicopters may be operated at less than the minimums prescribed in paragraph (b) or (c) of this section if the operation is conducted without hazard to persons or property on the surface. In addition, each person operating a helicopter shall comply with any routes or altitudes specifically prescribed for helicopters by the Administrator.
Note the helicopter section...essentially, you can fly as low as Orange County will allow you (not sure what that is or IF they have rules for that), otherwise, as low as you can go until someone starts complaining and calls the FAA with your tail number. And trust me, they will if you blow the shingles off of their house, blow their patio furniture over, or scare their little annoying yappy lap dog.
Keep in mind that there are places you simply cannot fly and these areas have names like "Restricted Areas" (Disney World is one, for example) and "Prohibited Areas" (Camp David and the Groom Lake "Area-51" section of Nevada are 2 examples). I could go deeper into the details on these, but I don't think it would be pertinent for this discussion.
There are generally pretty hard/fast rules on the FAA's FARs (Federal Aviation Regulations), but things can get a bit fuzzy at times and helicopters almost ALWAYS have an exception to the hard/fast rules. Here's the word straight from the FAR's:
Except when necessary for takeoff or landing, no person may operate an aircraft below the following altitudes:
(a) Anywhere. An altitude allowing, if a power unit fails, an emergency landing without undue hazard to persons or property on the surface.
(b) Over congested areas. Over any congested area of a city, town, or settlement, or over any open air assembly of persons, an altitude of 1,000 feet above the highest obstacle within a horizontal radius of 2,000 feet of the aircraft.
(c) Over other than congested areas. An altitude of 500 feet above the surface, except over open water or sparsely populated areas. In those cases, the aircraft may not be operated closer than 500 feet to any person, vessel, vehicle, or structure.
(d) Helicopters. Helicopters may be operated at less than the minimums prescribed in paragraph (b) or (c) of this section if the operation is conducted without hazard to persons or property on the surface. In addition, each person operating a helicopter shall comply with any routes or altitudes specifically prescribed for helicopters by the Administrator.
Note the helicopter section...essentially, you can fly as low as Orange County will allow you (not sure what that is or IF they have rules for that), otherwise, as low as you can go until someone starts complaining and calls the FAA with your tail number. And trust me, they will if you blow the shingles off of their house, blow their patio furniture over, or scare their little annoying yappy lap dog.
Keep in mind that there are places you simply cannot fly and these areas have names like "Restricted Areas" (Disney World is one, for example) and "Prohibited Areas" (Camp David and the Groom Lake "Area-51" section of Nevada are 2 examples). I could go deeper into the details on these, but I don't think it would be pertinent for this discussion.
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^ Thanks for the info! Of course, tour helicopters can fly over Disney World but I am not sure what height restrictions might be in place. Whatever the restriction, it is probably the same for US, Seaworld etc.
I do know that one cannot fly a chopper willy-nilly over a certain northeastern national park without twisting a few arms in Washington first. Used to be able to :wave: but not now.
I do know that one cannot fly a chopper willy-nilly over a certain northeastern national park without twisting a few arms in Washington first. Used to be able to :wave: but not now.
Well obviously, the tour choppers have a waiver, even if it isn't specifically mentioned in that post. Too, news helicopters must have some kind of waiver as they fly willy-nilly over WDW and Uni at will. I would imagine that the height is 1000' and not higher as there would be less point to having a news or tour helicopter.
So people have a sense of the distance, 1000' is the distance between the Magic Kingdom train station and the castle.
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