So the FAA released its app, B4UFLY, which lets you know what airports and/or heliports are within 5 miles of you. Lucky me - I have 5 of them. 1 hospital heliport, 1 private heliport, 2 community airports and 1 New Jersey Turnpike Authority heliport. Boy, are they going to get sick of hearing from me. I work from home and will take time during the day to grab a quick flight frequently. I'll be talking to them at least 5 times a week. Fortunately, the airports are OK with me emailing them in advance.
Since they are a few miles away, their aircraft are above 850 ft until final, which is about 1/2 mile out. If one of their planes is at or below 400 feet where I live, they have much bigger problems than my drone.
The heliports were surprised to hear from me and didn't quite know what to make of my notification. They said thanks and that was it.
Welcome to the new world.
https://www.faa.gov/documentLibrary/media/Advisory_Circular/AC_91-57A.pdf
Read paragraph 5 on page 2. "Model aircraft operators flying from a permanent location within 5 miles of an airport should establish a mutually agreed upon operating procedure with the airport operator and the airport air traffic control tower..."
I hear you, but I look at it as an opportunity to educate some people, that we're not flying Predators, but that most of us can't identify anyone from 200 feet any better than Google Earth can, and not as well as Street View can. Street view has to blur faces because their ID possibilities are greater than my P3P.
I have Addison Airport in north Dallas, two hospital helipads, two seldom-used private helipads, and a small private airfield identified by B4UFLY. I called the two hospitals last Friday and spoke to two people who had no Idea what I was calling about, but were willing to learn, and I'm giving them info to grease the skids for anyone else in the future in my area.
I called the contacts for the two private helipads, and if I don't hear back from them, well, I tried.
I set up a mutually agreed procedure with the FAA tower manager last month. I sent him maps of when and where I planned to fly, daylight only, max AGL 200 feet, and he replied with a standing agreement [subject to change (CYA language, as expected)].
If you approach it as an opportunity rather than a burden, most people will reply reasonably, and it's a chance for us to educate people in important places as to what we're doing, and show that it's not a threat to anyone's security or privacy. Otherwise, we let the Panic Peddlers control the issue.
