Airport no-fly zone radius confusion.

[dmcgrew]

I'm a little confused about the no-fly zone radius around airports. In the Pilot app the red radius is right on the edges of the airport, of course the no-fly zone is actually bigger than this. However, when I use an app like Hover or a site like AirMap.io the radius around a large international airport is the same as one around a smaller county/regional airport. Is this correct? For some reason I thought it was a 5 mile radius around international airports and 2.5 miles around smaller airports.

Reason I'm asking is because there is a location near (about 4 miles away) a small airport that I want to fly in, in the Pilot app its outside the red radius but on AirMap.io its just barely inside the red radius.

 

[loganboyd]

Just go there and see and you'll know the answer. I don't think anyone will be able to tell you specifically for that airport. The documentation just isn't that clear about it. Who knows that Lat/Long they used for the CENTER of the airport too.

 

[vinnnocc]

i was flying near a local small air port the other day. before i even turned on the bird i opened the app to make sure i wasnt in the red. and i was no where near it. i start the bird and i get caution near no fly zone and the red is 2ft away now.

 

[vinnnocc]

i was flying where it says east the. straight down to the water.

 

[ctfireman]

i was flying near a local small air port the other day. before i even turned on the bird i opened the app to make sure i wasnt in the red. and i was no where near it. i start the bird and i get caution near no fly zone and the red is 2ft away now. View attachment 26003

View attachment 26004

I'm a CT flyer as well. Small world..or .....forum i should say.

 

[dmcgrew]

Just go there and see and you'll know the answer. I don't think anyone will be able to tell you specifically for that airport. The documentation just isn't that clear about it. Who knows that Lat/Long they used for the CENTER of the airport too.

Ok, that's probably what I'll have to do. Would be nice to know before making the trip though

 

[SteveMann]

There is currently no rule requiring it, but the FAA wants you to notify the ATC (tower) or manager of the airport when operating within five miles of the airport. They don't define how to measure five miles, but the FAA only lists the latitude and longitude of the center of the active runways or navaid, so it would be logical that the five miles is around this point. Calculating the distance from the airport boundaries would be impractical. Take SFO for example. The main runways are just under two miles long and the airport property extends a little over 2 miles to the Northwest from the center point. Five miles from that center point would put you less than three miles from the airport fence.

The FAA Airport/Facility directory lists the latitude and longitude of airports determined by the center of the main runways or if there is a Navaid (VOR or NDB) on the airport then the lat/lon of the navaid is used.

It's hard to find it, but that white dot in the center is a VOR station.

 

[BenDronePilot]

I'm a little confused about the no-fly zone radius around airports. In the Pilot app the red radius is right on the edges of the airport, of course the no-fly zone is actually bigger than this. However, when I use an app like Hover or a site like AirMap.io the radius around a large international airport is the same as one around a smaller county/regional airport. Is this correct? For some reason I thought it was a 5 mile radius around international airports and 2.5 miles around smaller airports.

Reason I'm asking is because there is a location near (about 4 miles away) a small airport that I want to fly in, in the Pilot app its outside the red radius but on AirMap.io its just barely inside the red radius.

Good question actually. And here's your answer. DJI has two different sets of "no fly zone" rules for Phantoms. The original one works on the Phantom and Phantom 2. That is the one that restricts your altitude to a max of 35 to 395 feet when you're within 5 miles of class A airport or 2.5 miles of class B.

The new no fly zone rules which currently applies to the P3 and Inspire 1, the no fly area is more closely aligned with the shape of the actual airport. Once outside the red zone the altitude limit kicks in beginning at 65 feet (as opposed to the others 35 feet) and extends out for just one mile, vs several with the original no fly zone rule. So for now depending on if you're flying a P2 or P3 you will not be able to fly at all of very high in some places with your P2 but you will with your P3 until a newer firmware comes out for the P2 aligning both of the two. On the bright side for altitude loving people, the P2 as far as I know doesn't have a 500M max altitude limit like the P3 has.

 

[phantom1972]

There is currently no rule requiring it, but the FAA wants you to notify the ATC (tower) or manager of the airport when operating within five miles of the airport. They don't define how to measure five miles, but the FAA only lists the latitude and longitude of the center of the active runways or navaid, so it would be logical that the five miles is around this point. Calculating the distance from the airport boundaries would be impractical. Take SFO for example. The main runways are just under two miles long and the airport property extends a little over 2 miles to the Northwest from the center point. Five miles from that center point would put you less than three miles from the airport fence.

The FAA Airport/Facility directory lists the latitude and longitude of airports determined by the center of the main runways or if there is a Navaid (VOR or NDB) on the airport then the lat/lon of the navaid is used.

It's hard to find it, but that white dot in the center is a VOR station.

This is the kind of stuff that scares me. If you stay under 400', and you are say 4 miles away in VFR weather, the tower is not going to have a problem. What scares me is towers having to answer the phone about some guy taking pictures of a house, some guy flying in his back yard. We do want these making sure planes don't crash! Not sitting answering the phone.