I have tried contacting my local airport as I live within the 5 mile radius and want to get some pictures of my house, but I can't get the general manager to contact me back. Have any of you had these experiences? What should I do? Thanks for any feedback as I have only been flying for around a week now.
Trouble Contacting an airport. Advice would be appreciated.
- Thread starter Al3xzzzz
- Start date
By "not getting the manager to contact you back" I am guessing you are leaving a message?
If so, why not simply leave a message with the flight information. The requirement is to "inform" the tower. Tell them the time, location and expected duration of your flight and they will have been "informed."
I'll wager that such a message will get you the return call you desire.
Also, I believe the requirement is to notify the "tower" which is probably different than the general manager. See if you can get the tower phone number
NOTICE: Take all internet advice (including mine) with a grain of salt. Use at your own risk. YMMV.
If so, why not simply leave a message with the flight information. The requirement is to "inform" the tower. Tell them the time, location and expected duration of your flight and they will have been "informed."
I'll wager that such a message will get you the return call you desire.
Also, I believe the requirement is to notify the "tower" which is probably different than the general manager. See if you can get the tower phone number
NOTICE: Take all internet advice (including mine) with a grain of salt. Use at your own risk. YMMV.
Thanks Joe, A quick question. How do you inform them of your location? Like an address or something?
I haven't done it (never needed to) only read about it.
What I have read usually goes something like this:
"I plan to fly my UAV today, approximate 2.1 miles southeast of your airport. Will fly at 2pm for about 30 minutes to an altitude of 100 feet."
Most report no problems with the tower people appreciating the call. You _might_ expect resistance if you are in a flight path.
There are several such account on this forum.
I would suggest that you check for NFZ first! If your within the parameters of your area, then that should not be a problem. .As for contacting the tower, All air port towers have a protocol for UAS now since the UAV registration process !.You can google this nfo!
I know there is a NFZ from airmap.io but it isn't listed through the dji app. But still want to keep myself and others safe.
There are three very small airports in my rural county. I plan on mailing a letter with my contact information and letting them know that I fly every day in this county, and if they want to contact me they may do so.
find the tower phone number(not easy) and call them with date and time exact location and operating radius along with max altitude, your contact number.
Thanks for the idea. When I tried calling them they pushed back with "why in the world would you fly a drone around an airport", not to mention im 4 miles out so whats the big deal staying below 200ft its only 75ft above a residential areas trees. Personally if find them really hard to deal with and I don't know if its because they don't have a tower or they just don't like our hobby but they just seem so rude trying to talk down to me.
I had trouble contacting the Airport Manager, (turns out he was out of town), so after about 5 days, I went over to the airport since its only a mile away and spoke with some people in the administration office and they set me up to talk to the ATC supervisor on duty. Was all a very positive experience. Besides some critical areas and altitudes, they had no issue with a drone flying within the 5 miles radius. Just call the number they gave me, leave a message with name, phone, location, altitude and time starting and ending flight was about it. They add info to recorded ATIS/NOTAMS message for airmen. Airport is classified as small but has a tower and about 200 flights a day.
Positive Experience with ATC at local Airport
Positive Experience with ATC at local Airport
wow 200 flights day? I have one near my house, but they only do maybe 1 a week, maybe a few a month at most.
When I called one of the hospitals near me (they have a helipad) to let them know they tried to tell me no one would authorize my flight. I politely told them they dont have the authority to tell me no, I am simply informing them. I did finally get the right person at the second hospital (there are three close by that I have to inform) and he was nice enough to explain that they would call if they had any activity in the area. The real reason for contacting is to make sure they know we are there and that they can inform us to get out of their way if they need to fly in the place we are at. Remember, manned aircraft always have the right of way. I do wish there was an easier process (took me 30 minutes and about 5 phone calls to get to the right person the first time) to communicate with the operator of an airport/helipad.
If there is no tower, or it's not operating when you plan to fly, just 'contacting' the manager is enough. When I call my local airport, more often than not, I just get the answering machine. So I leave my contact info, location, flying times and max altitude. No problem and when I do get a real person, no issues with the voice a mail. Obviously, with a tower, contacting them is required. As commented, finding their number can be a problem. If you are going to be flying there often, probably worth a trip there to talk face to face and get good contact numbers. Of course, any other restrictions such as NFZs and TFRs have to be dealt with.
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