ORIGINAL: Silvaire
"Sec. 91.119 — Minimum safe altitudes: General.
Except when necessary for takeoff or landing..."
I think that in this case a pretty good argument could be made that the FS pilot WAS attempting to land.
A low pass is proof that you are not attempting to land, especially with smoke on. Read the AIM proceedures for an aborted landing.
"A competent airboss would have made it clear..."
In this case there was no "airboss" with ANY authority.
(no NOTAM filed for the R/C operations)
No airboss has any authority unless he is also ATC. There is no need for a NOTAM for events without aerobatics. In such events anybody can grab a handheld and call themselves air boss. Remember this is a private airfield, not public.
The title of this thread was "An Incident with Lessons for All of Us"
I think the lesson is: If you are going to operate your R/C aircraft, you need to KNOW and COMPLY with the requirements of the environment where you are flying. In this case I have great sympathy for the R/C pilot as he was invited to fly at this active airport. However, those who invited him to fly did not obtain the appropriate legal clearance (in the matter of filing a NOTAM) to allow him to do so.
While I don't agree that they were required to get a NOTAM, I do think they should have, if only to close the airfield when RC is flying.