GA PLT FLEW BELOW MINIMUM SAFE ALT WHILE ON A PHOTO MISSION.

Narrative

ON 12/TUE/88 I WAS CALLED EARLY IN THE MORNING BY OUR PHOTOGRAPHER AT NASA LEWIS RESEARCH CENTER WITH A REQUEST THAT I FLY HIM OVER THE CENTER BECAUSE ALL OF OUR NASA PLANES WERE IN USE OR OUT OF SVC. I SAID I WOULD BUT COULD TAKE NO PAYMENT OR ANYTHING SINCE I HAD NO COMMERCIAL RATING. TO EXPEDITE AND ENSURE THAT THE FLT WAS OK I CALLED THE CLE CTL TWR AND EXPLAINED THAT I WANTED TO DO A PHOTO FLT OVER OUR CENTER AT 750' AGL AND BELOW. I GOT CLRNC FOR THE FLT; TOOK OFF; THE PHOTOGRAPHER DID HIS JOB AND WE LANDED. I AM SUBMITTING THIS RPT OUT OF CONCERN AND NOW I'M AFRAID IGNORANCE. THE FAR'S STATE MINIMUM ALTS OR FLT OVERPOPULATED AREAS YET ATC (CTL TWR) CLRED ME FOR MY REQUEST OF LOW PASSES OR PHOTOS OVER THE LEWIS RESEARCH CENTER. I AM NOW WONDERING IF THE FAR TAKES PRECEDENCE AS IT WOULD IF BEING VECTORED INTO CLOUDS OR WAS THE ATC CLRNC ENOUGH TO KEEP ME LEGAL. I AM CONCERNED WITH DOING THE RIGHT THING IF THIS COMES UP IN THE FUTURE. ALSO; BLUNTLY SPEAKING; SINCE I JUST RECEIVED MY INSTRUMENT RATING I WOULD NOT LIKE TO FACE A CERTIFICATE ACTION WHILE TRYING TO DO A FAVOR FOR NASA. I WENT NO LOWER THAN 500' AGL OVER THE CENTER; BUT DID GO TO ABOUT 300' AGL OVER THE VALLEY NEXT TO THE CENTER. SINCE THE FAR'S CALL FOR 1000' AGL YOU CAN UNDERSTAND MY CONCERN NOW THAT I HAVE THOUGHT ABOUT THE FLT. I BELIEVE THAT I WAS IN A POS TO GLIDE ONTO THE ARPT; CLE AT ANYTIME SHOULD I HAVE SUFFERED ENG FAILURE. I WOULD CERTAINLY APPRECIATE FEEDBACK ON THE QUESTION OF WHETHER OR NOT THERE WAS A MISTAKE MADE BY ME. AS A FINAL ITEM THERE WERE NO CLOSE CALLS; NO INCIDENTS; NO QUESTIONS FROM THE TWR AND I WAS ON TWR REQUESTED AT ALL TIMES FROM TKOF TO T/D. CALLBACK CONVERSATION WITH RPTR REVEALED THE FOLLOWING: RPTR HAS BEEN CONTACTED BY THE LCL FSDO AND ENFORCEMENT ACTION AGAINST RPTR HAS BEEN STARTED. IT SEEMS THAT DURING THE RPTED FLT; 2 FSDO INSPECTORS WERE OUTSIDE THE FSDO OFFICE; WHICH IS NEXT DOOR TO THE CENTER AND THEY OBSERVED THE LOW ALT FLT. FSDO'S CHARGE AGAINST RPTR IS THAT HE FLEW LOWER THAN FAR'S ALLOW OVER AN AREA THAT IS CONSIDERED A DENSELY POPULATED. RPTR FLEW AT 300' AGL OVER PEOPLE AND DWELLINGS. ALSO A VIOLATION OF FAR. RPTR IS AWAITING FURTHER WORD FROM FSDO. RPTR STATED THAT DURING HIS TELEPHONE CONVERSATION WITH THE TWR BEFORE THE FLT; HE DID NOT MENTION AN ALT FOR THE FLT BECAUSE HE DID NOT KNOW WHAT ALT THE PHOTOGRAPHER WOULD WANT. THEREFORE; HE DID GET PERMISSION TO FLY IN THE ATA; BUT THE TWR DID NOT APPROVE AN ALT BELOW THAT ALLOWED IN THE FAR.