5 Mile No Fly Zone around Airports might be bigger than you think

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I was doing some thinking about the No Fly Zones around airports nationwide. I'm no math whiz so someone good with math please correct me here.

But I used the formula for the area of a circle Pi=3.141 x radius Squared.

It's 5 miles in EVERY direction from the center of the airport.

So I came up with about 80 square miles of land around an airport where you can't fly drones.
Is that even close to correct?

That encompass a great deal of territory everywhere in South Florida because there are so many airports and everything squeezed into such a tight space.

You have West Pam Beach International, Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport, Pompano Park in Pompano Beach, Fort Lauderdale Hollywood International in Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton Airport, North Perry Airport, Opa Locka airport and of course Miami International. Draw a 5 mile radius circle around all these and you're left with almost nowhere to fly.

If you live way out in the country where the nearest airport is 100 miles away you're good. But almost everyone in any metro area may be in a no fly zone. Think about Atlanta Georgia. You have Hartsfield Jackson International to the South, Fulton County Airfield to the West, Peachtree Dekalb to the Northeast, Dobbins AFB to the North, and probably one or two I'm missing. If you diagram all those airports on a map the area left to legally fly is very small within the entire Metro Atlanta area....and now they've excluded 5 miles around the state capital in downtown. They've pretty much outlawed drone flights anywhere near Atlanta.

Now I realize I'm using a broad brush here and this may a bit dramamtic and I apologize for that. I'm making a point though that in metropolitan areas, we're already choked as to where we can fly. It won't take much to completely shut down the hobby for millions of people.

Again, I'm just "rough draft" thinking out loud and could be WAY off I admit.

What's your take?
 
Last edited:
I was doing some thinking about the No Fly Zones around airports nationwide. I'm no math whiz so someone good with math please correct me here.

But I used the formula for the area of a circle Pi=3.141 x radius Squared.

It's 5 miles in EVERY direction from the center of the airport.

So I came up with about 80 square miles of land around an airport where you can't fly drones.
Is that even close to correct?

That encompass a great deal of territory everywhere in South Florida because there are so many airports and everything squeezed into such a tight space.

You have West Pam Beach International, Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport, Pompano Park in Pompano Beach, Fort Lauderdale Hollywood International in Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton Airport, North Perry Airport, Opa Locka airport and of course Miami International. Draw a 5 mile radius circle around all these and you're left with almost nowhere to fly.

If you live way out in the country where the nearest airport is 100 miles away you're good. But almost everyone in any metro area may be in a no fly zone. Think about Atlanta Georgia. You have Hartsfield Jackson International to the South, Fulton County Airfield to the West, Peachtree Dekalb to the Northeast, Dobbins AFB to the North, and probably one or two I'm missing. If you diagram all those airports on a map the area left to legally fly is very small within the entire Metro Atlanta area....and now they've excluded 5 miles around the state capital in downtown. They've pretty much outlawed drone flights anywhere near Atlanta.

Now I realize I'm using a broad brush here and this may a bit dramamtic and I apologize for that. I'm making a point though that in metropolitan areas, we're already choked as to where we can fly. It won't take much to completely shut down the hobby for millions of people.

Again, I'm just "rough draft" thinking out loud and could be WAY off I admit.

What's your take?
YES, that's what "5 mile radius" means....
 
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I guess it depends on the size and traffic of the airport as well. Maybe your local airport is not very busy?
 
I guess it depends on the size and traffic of the airport as well. Maybe your local airport is not very busy?
Correct. It's insane to fly anywhere near a major metro airport. I also have lots of other places to fly. I only fly in this city park to log stick time when I'm feeling too lazy to drive.
 
Quick question. Do you guys call the Airport manager number? If not, how do I find the number to call? What exactly do they ask (your name, phone number, altitude, coordinates...)?
 
Look at Queens NY and Nassau County NY. Almost impossible to fly here!!
ImageUploadedByPhantomPilots1439266461.686950.jpg
 

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