How low can you go?

[Auxpilot]

With the new 60-1 saying that "sustained flight below 1'000 AGL" is prohibited and at no time will the aircraft be allowed to be less than 500' of anything (except landing), can one assume that it is ok to drop down to 500' during a CD flight or search to look at something then pop back up to 1'000 agl or is that reading too much into the reg?

There used to be language that allowed the drop down but it is gone now.

[CFI_Ed]

With the new 60-1 saying that "sustained flight below 1'000 AGL" is prohibited and at no time will the aircraft be allowed to be less than 500' of anything (except landing), can one assume that it is ok to drop down to 500' during a CD flight or search to look at something then pop back up to 1'000 agl or is that reading too much into the reg?

There used to be language that allowed the drop down but it is gone now.

Reading too much into it, it's okay to drop down.  Just can't stay (sustained flight) down there.

[RiverAux]

It is possible to get exceptions to allow for sustained flight below 1000.  Have to go throug the NOC though. 

[rgr84]

Think about it this way. 

Can you do Turns Around A Point in a CAP aircraft?

Since the answer is yes, what is the entry altitude for this private pilot maneuver?

[SJFedor]

You're typically running search lines at 1000. It is permissable to drop to 500 for a quick look, but after carefully evaluating the hazards to doing so. Typically an IC/AOBD will brief the use of this practice, as sometimes, I've had ICs establish 1000ft hard decks during training missions.