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Small Private airports in area

bradc972

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Location
Prosper, Tx
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www.coltwater.com
My Mavic is supposed to arrive today so I am getting things in order to notify the airports/helipads in my area.

In addition to the public airport and hospital helipad there are 2 private landing strips that show up on B4UFly within 5 miles of where I am.

I have already sent a request to the contacts for the public/helipad as instructed on their website.

My question is, do I need to notify the 2 families that happen to have airstrips on their property?

Have Any of your Collin County folks here in Texas had any issues with all the private strips around?
 
My Mavic is supposed to arrive today so I am getting things in order to notify the airports/helipads in my area.

In addition to the public airport and hospital helipad there are 2 private landing strips that show up on B4UFly within 5 miles of where I am.

I have already sent a request to the contacts for the public/helipad as instructed on their website.

My question is, do I need to notify the 2 families that happen to have airstrips on their property?

Have Any of your Collin County folks here in Texas had any issues with all the private strips around?
No.
 
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I have to change my answer.
I originally said no because a private strip does not fall into any FAA airport classification.

But.....As I stated in another thread, I did contact the FAA about this and got a response today.
The individual stated that any airport, heliport or sea plane facility within 5 miles must be notified and used the generic definition of an airport as any piece of land used for takeoff or landing of aircraft.

Sounds silly, but it is what it is.
 
Of course "the individual" is going to say that. No government employee is going to put their butt on the line and say "yes" to anything on the phone.
 
Of course "the individual" is going to say that. No government employee is going to put their butt on the line and say "yes" to anything on the phone.

Just to be clear, it wasn't a phone call. It was an email response and she quoted the FAA published definition of an "airport," and said that's what they require.
Just the messenger.
 
So every time a person wants to fly say in their back yard and take some video of the kids running around on the swingset, the drone pilot is required to get a hold of a private citizen, a person that happened to mow a landing strip in their back yard. I understand it is the current rule, but it is the most ridiculous thing. I have several small private grass strips around me.. I guess I need to get these guys on speed dial, because I love to fly my mavic!
 
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So every time a person wants to fly say in their back yard and take some video of the kids running around on the swingset, the drone pilot is required to get a hold of a private citizen, a person that happened to mow a landing strip in their back yard. I understand it is the current rule, but it is the most ridiculous thing. I have several small private grass strips around me.. I guess I need to get these guys on speed dial, because I love to fly my mavic!

Its crazy, but what I would do is give them one notification that includes your location and that you intend to fly below 400' between sunup and sunset.
 
I live just north of Dallas and there's tons of heliports in my area. I have to call them every time I wanna fly? Ummm... prolly not gonna happen.

Sent from my SM-N920P using MavicPilots mobile app
 
Me too @Boog0822

I am in Prosper. It seems everyone in Celina, Gunter and Aubrey have a private strip on their land.

I did email Aero Country and never received a response. I think they are simply following the requirement of being notified.
 
I live just north of Dallas and there's tons of heliports in my area. I have to call them every time I wanna fly? Ummm... prolly not gonna happen.

Sent from my SM-N920P using MavicPilots mobile app

I'm in Plano and totally agree. In the DFW area the are pretty much zero areas outside 5 miles of any form of airport. It's unrealistic to expect contacting 3-15 airports prior to flying in my back yard.

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Last edited:
The question really becomes "is it a REGISTERED airport"? In other words, does it have an identifier (Kxxx), and does it appear on sectionals?

A registered airport will be listed in your local airport directory and appear in the B4UFLY app. It should also have contact info in both.

The FAA is applying some common sense here. I live within 5 miles of two "airports" - one is a "seaplane base" and one is the local County mosquito control helicopter facility.

The "seaplane base" is little more than someone's house on a lake who kept his seaplane on the lake. However, it is indeed registered, so I attempted several times without success to contact the owner. I spoke to multiple people at the FAA's UAS help line, who said that I had made my best effort to notify them, and therefore had met my burden. I recommend keeping a log of your notification attempts just in case it ever comes up. In this case, it turns out that the owner had died in a crash of his seaplane years ago, but the FAA hasn't removed the facility from its registry yet. I was unable to ascertain how or when that might occur.

I drew up a letter for the mosquito control folks informing them that I would be flying a UAS occasionally between the hours of 8a-8p within 1 mile of my home address. I went to their facility and met with them - really nice folks - and we talked drones for about an hour. They described to me their operation - most importantly that they drop to under 100' AGL occasionally for spraying operations. I told them that I would rarely - if ever - exceed 200', and would land if and when I heard a helicopter. They were appreciative that I took the time to come by, and acknowledged that they had been duly notified of my operations - so no need to inform them every time I fly.
 
I was pleasantly surprised with the small airport in our town - Shannon Airport - Fredericksburg, VA.

I called them and explained that I needed to know how they'd like to be notified when I was flying. I told them my location in relation to the airport. They told me as long as I fly within FAA regs (under 400') and not directly over the airport, they're cool. They said no need to call them again as long as I stick to that.

Easy!
 
The question really becomes "is it a REGISTERED airport"? In other words, does it have an identifier (Kxxx), and does it appear on sectionals?

A registered airport will be listed in your local airport directory and appear in the B4UFLY app. It should also have contact info in both.

The FAA is applying some common sense here. I live within 5 miles of two "airports" - one is a "seaplane base" and one is the local County mosquito control helicopter facility.

The "seaplane base" is little more than someone's house on a lake who kept his seaplane on the lake. However, it is indeed registered, so I attempted several times without success to contact the owner. I spoke to multiple people at the FAA's UAS help line, who said that I had made my best effort to notify them, and therefore had met my burden. I recommend keeping a log of your notification attempts just in case it ever comes up. In this case, it turns out that the owner had died in a crash of his seaplane years ago, but the FAA hasn't removed the facility from its registry yet. I was unable to ascertain how or when that might occur.

I drew up a letter for the mosquito control folks informing them that I would be flying a UAS occasionally between the hours of 8a-8p within 1 mile of my home address. I went to their facility and met with them - really nice folks - and we talked drones for about an hour. They described to me their operation - most importantly that they drop to under 100' AGL occasionally for spraying operations. I told them that I would rarely - if ever - exceed 200', and would land if and when I heard a helicopter. They were appreciative that I took the time to come by, and acknowledged that they had been duly notified of my operations - so no need to inform them every time I fly.
 
I would get that acknowledgement in writing.. This makes me wonder how long and how often they have to registered an airfield.. My buddy lives out in the country and the B4UFLY map shows and airfield right across the street from him.. He told me that there used to be an airfield there 25 years ago but now it's a cow pasture with blackberries growing all over.But yet it's still on the FAA map.. This reminds me of yellow strips on the roads for no passing---They seem to add these lines but never take any away. Sounds like the FAA wonts to do the same thing.. Or perhaps they keep it on the map for emergency landing purposes. My neighbor is an FAA manager for maintenance and he says the maps are all messed up.. He has a P3
 
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