Honestly, I was sort of flashing on everything from Phila, to NY, to NJ, to Conn. (I used to asst. Manage a jet-port in N.E. Philly back in the day.)

I just grew up sitting anywhere and having airliners and such flying directly over... (I know during tennis matches in Flushing, the jets fly over...
---and there's even a really cool recording of Duke Ellington (I think,) playing at a Jazz festival in '58 where an airliner flys over the stage (on final,) and the Duke goes right into the AirForce Theme song, and then breaks effortlessly back into the main swing... (hysterical piece actually.)

I know security and such around all the Metro Airports back east are way tighter since 9/11.

What still gets me is the ability to sit at the end of the runway and watch the planes come in at FAT and such... (It's somethign I've done since I was a baby back home.) -you can't do that back east... you can't be too near anything of a municipal nature for too long 'just sitting there,' back East. (being into planes, trains, dams, etc... I have found out the hard way.)

I just thought it was odd that the Chuk had that sort of restriction.
More of a curious thing I guess.

stay above treetop.

-E

The restrictions arent 24/7. Most of the time they do apply though. The reasons behind it are hazy to me. I can look at my FAR/AIM book and find out if you would really like to know.

And i looked at the approach into JFK and most of the approaches come in over the water, then into JFK. Same with LAX. And if i remember correctly the field that gets most of the air traffic is The mets stadium, not the yankees (could be wrong). The restrictions are in airspace classes. For example a low altitude airspace could be a restricted airspace (for the sake of an example, say <1000 feet) Where as >1000 feet might be ok. without seeing the airplanes altitude itd be hard to say why the planes going over the stadium in new york are ok, and why other places they arent.

...now that's interesting.

-why?

I mean, coming out of EWR, JFK, LGA (all back east,) there are no changes made in flight plans that I know of (nor out of the backup patches like WhitePlains, Teterboro (etc.)

-You watch a ballgame near any of those places, and the planes flying over and landing are just a part of the deal...

-Is this about preventing (what a couple of thousand,) fans from possibly being blowed up by an airliner?,
(or)
is this some sort of deal with the casino (property owners,) to make the games more attractive and not intruded upon by the jets going over?

just wondering.

KFCH's Active runway is almost always Runway 30 left. (300 degrees) which is roughly north west. And runway 12 (120 degrees) roughly south east is never the active. Not only that, but the requirements that the FAA has on getting a license is gonna stop a lot of "terrorist" activity. Also, i doubt a terrorist is gonna buy an aircraft and fly it into DT. If anything they would rent an aircraft.

To rent an aircraft you have to get a checkride that can sometimes be one to 3 lessons with a CFI (certified flight instructor). Its not like you can walk up, pay 100 bucks, take off, and fly into a building. (although the media would like you to believe such)

Now, KFAT's active runway is almost always runway 29 (left and right runways are used the same), as a matter of fact, KFAT's departures sometimes go right over dt. At about the time you switch from the tower frequency to departure frequency is right over the downtown.

For what its worth, the Direct path from KFCH to KFAT does go over DT via departure out of KFCH on rwy 30, left downwind pattern direct to KFAT.

No worries though, i dont know if i would give fresnos downtown that much respect (as to being a "target rich" environment) The only thing down there is a baseball field, and a courhouse. And during baseball games there is a airspace restriction over the field.

Im a pilot.

Most of the downtown area proper (triangle bounded by 99, 41, & 180) is not affected by either one of the airports. The west side of downtown, (G Street west to 99) is located within the Fresno-Chandler Airport review area, but I do not believe there are height restrictions for the zone it is located in. The very northwesterly corner of downtown is located within the FYI review area, and similarly, I do not believe there are not any height restrictions within that zone as well. Both airports have specific plans which would call out any height restrictions that the FAA may have towards certain areas.

Downtown is not to worry.

scope out the landings at HongKong's (recently closed) airport, planes literally did have to come in sideways, come right over skyscrapers, and drop down, (famous footage of a '47 going into Kai Tak crabbing like a piper cub in a crossbreeze floating all over the internet,) as well as in flight footage of pilots lining up for it.

Another Beaut?
St. Maartin (N.A.) the main Airport literally IS right at the end of a roadway, and there is a beach at the end of the runway, the planes do come in unbelievably low, (it's a short runway,) and then hang their tails over the roadway, spool up, and blast out, (there's footage of folks gettting blown into the water and stuff...)

Been there, done it, it was a rush.

I'm curious how many times Fresno's been mentioned in a movie regarding planes... like 'Air America,'

'...Hmmmm, see you've done some crop dusting out in Fresno, okay, that's nice...'

In an aviation sense, it is more important to think if Chandler inturrupts the air traffic for Fresno Yosemite International (KFAT), Fresno Chandler Executive (KFCH)lies outside and underneath of the Class C airspace that is surrounds KFAT. To Fly into that airspace, which surrounds most of Fresno, the pilot needs to be in contact with the KFYI Control Tower. Through radar, they will tell the pilot what to do and can track the aircraft. Fresno's buildings are not very tall in a downtown sense, and are way below what could be concidered a hazard for aviation.

The FAA rarely restricts the height of Downtown buildings unless they are planned to be built directly in a flight path. This is actually a concern in Las Vegas as a Texas Developer wants to build a hotel casino that will be the tallest building on the west coast on the strip right next to the flight path of McCarren. For Fresno however the flight path is towards the Northwest and Southeast of the airport, since downtown is towards the Southwest there is no real conflict. Chandler has a similar flight path to FYI but is located on the other side of downtown.

Do not worry about the terrorism threat, there are thousands of airports that reside in or near downtown areas. In fact Meigs Field (though recently closed) sat right next to 100 story skyscrapers in Chicago! Las Vegas' McCarrain is literally next door to the strip and in Japan Airliners have to make steep turns right before landing or after takeoff to avoid the massive skyscrapers.

In regards to Government buildings, there are only a couple areas in California that are restricted as a "No-Fly Zone" a couple nuclear power plants, a Nasa installation near the bay area, and some government property on the east side of the Sierra's, an huge restricted zone that spans from Edwards Air force base throughout the Mojave desert (Where Area 51 is located).

I do smell that, smells like victory

Answer to come soon.

Your point is something that needs to be looked into. Maybe even part of a job discription for someone.

I guess the city does not have a height restriction on DT but the FAA does within 5 miles of Chandler. So that includes all of the DT Triangle. I am not sure how high the restriction goes though. Hopefully there is a loop-hole someone can get through to build something huge one day...