Official FAA App

[J&L]

So the local new did a news article on the do's and dont's for drones. They mentioned the FAA released an app to help us out. Well I downloaded it and come to find out they classify a grass airstrip 1.62miles down the road as an airport and I have to contact the tower or owner every time I want to fly. It's only used by 1 crop duster and a couple Cessna planes very rarely is it ever used. Here are some pics of my area. Any recommendations I do live in BFE lol.

 

[JeffŹ]

I live in a very rural area and was surprised to find that hospital helipads have a 3 mile radius.

 

[J&L]

It's pretty much dang near impossible to fly anywhere torwards the beach area

 

[JTC]

Best to just contact them and let them know you will be flying there. Covers your backside against any complaint they may have.

 

[snerd]

Get a number for it and notify them before flying nearby. That's what this is all about! They would love to know you're nearby flying a drone if they are going to be using it at the same time. They'll probably thank you.

 

[JeffŹ]

Well I don't have near the restrictions some of you because I live in arkansas, but there tends to be a lot of crop dusting strips

 

[J&L]

Get a number for it and notify them before flying nearby. That's what this is all about! They would love to know you're nearby flying a drone if they are going to be using it at the same time. They'll probably thank you.

Majority of the time by the time I get off work and get home the crop dusters have finished for the day and in the winter nobody ever flies by me. He may just tell me to call once and keep an eye out. There a bunch of old farmers lol. But I do see your point

 

[JeffŹ]

Oh definitely . I halfway expect to be told that no further and no higher than I will be flying it will be fine, but you never who the person you call might put a good word in with.

 

[RasterEyes]

First of all, is there a control tower? If not there is no responsibility to contact. Second if the tower is closed there is no responsibility to contact. In both of these cases the airfield reverts to class E airspace and flights under 700 ft AGL are in class G airspace. There may be an exception to this if the runway was IFR landing procedures.

If a more experienced pilot could verify this or correct me I'd appreciate it.


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[J&L]

I told my 3 neighbors that I got a drone and asked for permission of i could just fly around. We're talking 120+acres between the 4 of us so a lot of space. And they had no pebbles with me flying over the woods Etc. And they all thanked me for letting them now it was me going to be flying around.

 

[JeffŹ]

I don't want to do anything that would tarnish this. I have been approached a couple of times but so far everyone has been fascinated by it.

 

[J&L]

First of all, is there a control tower? If not there is no responsibility to contact. Second if the tower is closed there is no responsibility to contact. In both of these cases the airfield reverts to class E airspace and flights under 700 ft AGL are in class G airspace. There may be an exception to this if the runway was IFR landing procedures.

If a more experienced pilot could verify this or correct me if appreciate it.


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There is no tower at the grass airfield 1.62 miles up the rd or our executive airport 9 miles up the rd. I would assume you just contact the operations manager at each airport your within the 5 miles, in this case per the FAA app

 

[JeffŹ]

It would be nice if when you answered the questions on the app, it would automatically contact the correct party.

 

[RasterEyes]

There is no tower at the grass airfield 1.62 miles up the rd or our executive airport 9 miles up the rd. I would assume you just contact the operations manager at each airport your within the 5 miles, in this case per the FAA app

It never hurts to be polite and contact even if technically you may not need to.


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[willkohl]

I'm in a bit of the same position. The community I live in has a private, uncontrolled airport with maybe a flight a day out of it. I'm thinking of just getting a handheld radio and self-announcing on the CTAF frequency every time I fly, as well as monitoring it for any traffic coming in.


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[Crawdaddyjc]

i am in the same boat. 1 grass field with 1 private plane and 2 helipads. i have called and never get an answer. i just leave a message on their machine and let them know i will be buzzing around the area.

 

[FraserRMAM]

I'm in a bit of the same position. The community I live in has a private, uncontrolled airport with maybe a flight a day out of it. I'm thinking of just getting a handheld radio and self-announcing on the CTAF frequency every time I fly, as well as monitoring it for any traffic coming in.


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This is a great idea, and would alleviate half of the airport/drone operator conflicts existing right now. While it's not regulatory to have a radio in a lot of airspace in a GA airplane, there are few pilots anymore flying without one.

 

[Robert Smith jr]

Hi,

Been reading the forum for a while now, but this is my first post.

I had been flying regularly in a local park. Once the FAA B4UFLY app was released, I was surprised that heliports were listed. I contacted the heliport and the owner was very nice and told me that I need not contact him again. He didn't even want my FAA registration number.

In the "How it works" section of the app, it states that "The FAA is developing an electronic notification process to facilitate notification in the future", which is good news.

I actually have another local park that is not in any Airport or Heliport 5 mile radius!

 

[J&L]

I've heard several people say they have tried to contact there local airports and not get responses. What do you do if you get no responses? I think getting on the radio is a little overboard cause then your cluttering up the airwaves jmo. If you live in a decent sized city you may possibly have to call 3-5 airports in order to fly. And if 1 disapproves then you cant fly. Living around a military base would suck for sure. I can see this being giving a little and they take a lot. Just seems like a loosing battle to me especially once state and local authorities start banning us in certain places.

 

[willkohl]

I've heard several people say they have tried to contact there local airports and not get responses. What do you do if you get no responses? I think getting on the radio is a little overboard cause then your cluttering up the airwaves jmo. If you live in a decent sized city you may possibly have to call 3-5 airports in order to fly. And if 1 disapproves then you cant fly. Living around a military base would suck for sure. I can see this being giving a little and they take a lot. Just seems like a loosing battle to me especially once state and local authorities start banning us in certain places.

Nah, these CTAF frequencies are individual to each uncontrolled airport, and if you're rural enough not to have a tower there's usually not much going on over these frequencies, save for a few exceptions. If you're not going to announce I'd at least monitor it for traffic.


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