Plane frequently buzzes my property.

[MossRoad]

When counties use aircraft to check on new structures, they usually hire it done. They have a professional aerial photography company fly the jurisdiction in a grid pattern. They usually have this done on some periodic basis.

The first time I ran into this practice was 1958, when my parents bought a new house. Right after moving in, we poured a patio. Our newly poured building-permit-free patio showed up on the tax rolls almost as soon as we finished it. Soon after, a newspaper article exposed the aerial photography bit. Taxpayers were suitably "outraged," but couldn't do diddly about it.

Back in the 80's when I worked at the airport there was a company that did that all over the U.S. and based in South Bend, In. They are still in business... Williams Aerial & Mapping, Inc.

 

[motepoc]

George,

Don't know if it's the same where you are but here, we leased out about 10 acres of land to a company that was rebuilding a power line in the area to use as a laydown area. They put up a 10' chain link fence around the field (acutally real nice) and because they need to go beyond the two year lease, we decided they should leave the fence, and they did. Now the taxman considers that another building as far as taxes go, so instead of three buildings listed on the land (house, tin storage house, and wood barn), we now have four listed. Went down there to tell them they miscounted, and they told me the fence counts as a structure. Go guess!!!!!!

Oh yea, I didn't tell them that the fence was there.

 

[podagrower]

In our area of FL, the taxman has sattelite in his arsenal as well. On the county website you can pull up sat photos of your property, and they are good enough to see the lounge chairs in the back yard.

 

[N80]

Went down there to tell them they miscounted, and they told me the fence counts as a structure. Go guess!!!!!!

Oh yea, I didn't tell them that the fence was there.

Hm. Better tell the kids not to stand in one place too long...county might count them as a 'structure' .

I've got two deerstands that are more of a 'structure' than a chain link fence. Fortunately they are sufficiently camouflaged.

In our area of FL, the taxman has sattelite in his arsenal as well. On the county website you can pull up sat photos of your property, and they are good enough to see the lounge chairs in the back yard.

There may not be anything 'legally' wrong with all this but it sure starts to feel kind of creepy. And sometimes that 'creepy feeling' is a better indicator of right and wrong than what someone wrote in a rule book.

The planes flying around really don't bother me at all, and if they take the time to wave or dip a wing I think its pretty neat. But when I get the tax bill for a dirt floored-no walled-homemade pole shed I'm going to have a mini-stroke.

 

[MossRoad]

Put the pole shed on skids so you can drag it with a tractor. Then it is not a permanent structure.

 

[riptides]

Put the pole shed on skids so you can drag it with a tractor. Then it is not a permanent structure.

Actually I thought pole sheds were not considered permanent. Is this a county/state designation?

-Mike Z.

 

[MossRoad]

Actually I thought pole sheds were not considered permanent. Is this a county/state designation?

-Mike Z.

Depends entirely on where you live and state and local laws. For instance, around here at least, if you have a deck and attach it to your house with a ledger board, it becomes part of the house and there is some formula that they use to increase the sq footage of the home. If you have a stand alone deck, not attached to the house, it is not considered part of the house.

Same thing with swimming pools, again, around here, is that an in ground pool is considered permanent but an above ground pool is not. No tax increase with the above ground pool because it is not permanent. So a 15 X 30 above ground with a stand alone deck and a shower house that is really a yard barn on skids with a garden hose for the shower head will not increase my taxes one penny. A 6 x 10 lap pool sunk into a small concrete patio will increase my taxes. Kinda goofy, but that's the way it is.

 

[Podunkadunk]

Over the last couple of months I've noticed a small Cessna flying past my land repeatedly. Each time he will make several passes over my cabin, four times yesterday. I've noticed this on 4 or 5 different occasions. I'm not worried or suspicious, just curious. I've flown with a friend of mine before (in an open biplane!) and we flew by anything that caught our eye and waved at people we saw.

On another occasion, I was on the front porch of the cabin when a small civilian helicopter came flying low towards the cabin. I watched them approach and they saw me on the porch, dropped down lower and buzzed the cabin, people waving out both windows.

But this plane just goes round and round and is pretty high up. Too high for me to see the tail numbers. But, I got a telephoto lens out and was able to get them.

So, what could he be doing? I've got a few guesses:

1) Tax man. I know that the county has used aircraft to document taxable structures on your property.

2) DEA looking for marijuana. Last year a sizeable field was discovered nearby by a local wildlife biologist (a friend of mine).

3) Photographers. Several times planes have taken pictures of my B-I-L's farm house and they come by later in a car to sell you the pictures if you want them.

4) Weekend flyer just enjoying the views...over and over again.

Any other thoughts?

Is there a way to look up aircraft by their tail numbers?

Hi N80!
I have been following this post, everything is pretty much covered already, but I wanted to add:

You can pick up a handheld scanner/transmitter and listen in on their conversations in the air. They are taking off and landing somewhere (probably closeby to you) at a general aviation field and once you know that field, even if they don't have a manned tower, you can easily find out what frequency they tx/rx on by doing a search online...here's a start:

Scanning Links

If they are government, you won't be able to hear them because scanners you buy these days have those frequencies "blacked out". Older scanners of 12 years ago or better will pick up the entire spectrum of up to 1.3gigs. (I used to have one, but sold it long ago)...

Of course you can go online and learn quickly how to bypass the new type scanners' feature that blocks those freq's.

If you know or can find out the local airport that the plane is flying from (already mentioned in this post about contacting the FAA's website and looking up the tail number (which is required)) you can dial right in to that frequency when they are overhead. Even though they are VFR at the time of buzzing your house, they'll eventually talk to someone. Maybe you can get a clue about them from their conversations.

Of course you can always find out the tail number, who owns the plane, etc. and where it's parked from the FAA and while he's buzzing your house, take a drive to the airport and wait on him. General aviation fields (generally) aren't too large, especially in rural areas and he may be the only one out tooling around that day. Ask him what gives...can't hurt and it's not illegal.

I don't recommend putting some birdshot in his windscreen

Podunk

ps. Just found this link...it may help too:
See FAR 91.119
FAR Part 91 Federal Aviation Regulations

 

[N80]

Thanks man, that's good info. My B-I-L might even have an old scanner I can use.

But, for now I'm just going to try waving. I'm pretty sure at this point that these folks are probably students.

If I see the same plane again I might call the guy. My B-I-L's pasture next to my place has been used as an airstrip (for a Piper Cub anyway) so I'll just call the guy (I did look up his tail number) and tell him to land and come by for a glass of tea or a Corona.

 

[Wayne County Hose]

Of course, make sure he drinks the Corona after the flight.

Taxman here taxed me on a lean-to for my firewood. Three 4x4's in the ground with a tin roof attached to the side of my shed. That's it. Shed is taxed and the lean-to is taxed separately.

We had some very large aircraft doing fly-overs here last summer. We're miles away from anything and these things were big and low, usually 2 or 3 in formation flying low, doing turns, having a good time. Got the binoculars and saw they were Air Force. Large transport planes flying sometimes a couple hundred feet above treetops. The local newspaper did a story on the fly-by's. Yes, not much going on around here. Could you tell?