I work in the aviation field. Rumour has it that the local cable company is using an airplane to look for homes that are stealing cable TV. The aircraft flies low level over the neighborhoods in a grid pattern. Is it really possible that they can tell by flying 500-1000 feet or so over your house what you are watching on TV??? This sounds incredible to me and so wacky that I must say, yes this is a serious question. How does it work?
Unless something really radical has happened in the science field recently, no, I doubt that one could tell what you were watching on TV from an airplane.
What they could observe, however, is/are lines of cable going from the hookups outside to houses - the view from over top would be easier than from the street for example, since the cables aren’t often (IME) attached in front of houses.
that’s all I could think of.
I don’t think they are looking for extra strung wires. They are doing this at night and the wires wouldn’t be visible. The people I work with swear that they are looking for some type of leaking signal or can somehow tell what type of signal is being sent over the line. I’m an air traffic controller. This rumour has been circulating for quite a while. I know for certain there is a plane out there doing something. They were out there all last fall. They just started work again. Someone said that they asked the pilot and he confirmed the rumour. I just don’t see how this is possible.
From the FARs (Federal Aviation Regulations):
If they’re flying over houses at less than 1,000 feet, get his number.
Section (d) is why I like flying helicopters. 
WAG, but maybe this is it? From http://www.fcc.gov/csb/facts/sig_leak.html :
Maybe they’re not actually looking for cable leaks - they’re just spreading rumors and renting a plane&pilot to fly overhead at night to scare people into paying for cable instead of stealing it?
Well, I doubt they’re using airplanes, but yes, they can see what you’re watching on TV. It’s called Tempest technology, and it’s been known about for a long time. They use Tempest technology in the UK to catch folks who have a TV but who haven’t been paying their TV tax.
I don’t know what the maximum range is on the equipment, but I can’t imagine why they’d fly an airplane over folks’ houses, even at 1000 ft. clearence, when they could just drive a van around the neighborhood and get within 100 ft.
For an enlightening read, check out http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/ih98-tempest.pdf
Tempest is also covered in the latest PopMech, p. 71. As for range, they’re not too specific, but say, “You never know who might be looking over your shoulder, from a half mile away.”
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Johnny L.A. *
**From the FARs (Federal Aviation Regulations):
Ya know, Johnny, while I, too, enjoy quoting chapter and verse from the Aviation Bible I actually come here to unwind, not read regs. Besides, everyone knows chopper pilots don’t fly - they just beat the air into submission.
That said - it IS possible to fly a fixed wing lower than normally permitted in the regs. You just have to fill out a bunch o’ forms in triplicate, come up with a reason to convince the Feds, and not get yourself or anyone else killed while doing it.
Personally, I think that it just happens to be someone out doing a little nightflying and completely unrelated paranoia on the part of cable TV cheats.