Misophist, I don't see why anyone in the US would practise over a town when there's so much damn land elsewhere. I agree with you, they shouldn't be doing it over built-up areas. Simply *flying* over built-up areas is not a valid worry though, given how many airports in the world involve approaches over urban areas (assuming the pilots *are* coming in to land and aren't playing silly buggers) and how vanishingly rare accidents are.

Graham.