Class C and heliports

Calhoun Ranger · Jan 25, 2017

Two separate questions here. I am interested in answers from certificated remote pilots on this. In a medium size city, the downtown area is almost completely inside the inner ring of a class C airspace (SFC to 3300 ft). If someone wanted to do a lot of real estate video within the downtown, in your experience, would you have to get airport permission for every shoot? I know that some news organizations in that city have been granted a blanket authorization for drone video.
Question 2: A police officer told me today that drones were not allowed to fly with a 3-mile radius of a hospital heliport in the area. In the training for the aeronautical knowledge test, I don't recall any concrete rules around heliports, other than being watchful and possibly a courtesy call to the heliport owner.
I am interested in remote pilot rules, not hobbyist rules. Serious responses only, please. I am not interested in skirting the regulations, just understanding them better.

Richard R · Jan 25, 2017

For the class C, you are going to need to go online and request a waiver, ATC at the airport cannot authorize you to fly inside the controlled airspace. I would submit the request for intermittent flights over a period of time (can go up to 4 years). Once approved, you would likely have to notify the tower before each flight.
Treat a heliport like any other airport. As a Part 107 pilot, no notification reguired. There is no 3 mile rule.