So…my friend and I were flying and filming the Quest Dog Sled Race in Fairbanks AK where we live. My drone is in the air, stationary at the moment, we are both in my car because we are wimps and flying with gloves is tough and flying without them is tougher at our temps..so I hear a tap tap tap on my window to my left.
I look out and there are two fellows, may in their early 30s. I roll down the the window and one says, “We’re with the FAAs”. I said, “seriously”? He smiled and said yes. We were in an authorization zone that requires a LAANCs and has a limit of 200feet. There are crowds around around, especially near the start and then lining the route that goes along the river the mushers will be going down.
The FAA fellow asks us if we have Part 107 which in retrospect seems odd as I know I could have gotten a LAANC had I not had Part 107. I showed him my card as did my friend and then he asked about a LAANC. My friend had a printout and he showed him that and I said I didn’t have a printout but could show him on my phone and got it out buy he didn’t worry about that. All this time my drone is sitting out their stationary…in sight but just barely so. We chatted a bit with me commenting the hardest part is being careful to not fly over people. He nodded in agreement and said they had been watching us (our drones) and noted we were being very careful. I said, “yeah…we’re staying under 400’…” and my friend very quickly said, “200’ !” I laughed and said, “yeah…200’” and the FAA fellow said they had already noted that.
Had everyone been on their game they would have told me, or I should have said, " I need to bring my drone back and land so we can talk" but instead my drone sat up there...while we conversed..
We asked for a photo with them and learned one was a member of a local, very famous dog mushing family. We got a pic with all of us. All in all a very fun encounter and we were very, very happy we had all our “ducks in a row”.
I did ask if they had encountered people that were not doing things right and they answered “too often”. Good times.
I look out and there are two fellows, may in their early 30s. I roll down the the window and one says, “We’re with the FAAs”. I said, “seriously”? He smiled and said yes. We were in an authorization zone that requires a LAANCs and has a limit of 200feet. There are crowds around around, especially near the start and then lining the route that goes along the river the mushers will be going down.
The FAA fellow asks us if we have Part 107 which in retrospect seems odd as I know I could have gotten a LAANC had I not had Part 107. I showed him my card as did my friend and then he asked about a LAANC. My friend had a printout and he showed him that and I said I didn’t have a printout but could show him on my phone and got it out buy he didn’t worry about that. All this time my drone is sitting out their stationary…in sight but just barely so. We chatted a bit with me commenting the hardest part is being careful to not fly over people. He nodded in agreement and said they had been watching us (our drones) and noted we were being very careful. I said, “yeah…we’re staying under 400’…” and my friend very quickly said, “200’ !” I laughed and said, “yeah…200’” and the FAA fellow said they had already noted that.
Had everyone been on their game they would have told me, or I should have said, " I need to bring my drone back and land so we can talk" but instead my drone sat up there...while we conversed..
We asked for a photo with them and learned one was a member of a local, very famous dog mushing family. We got a pic with all of us. All in all a very fun encounter and we were very, very happy we had all our “ducks in a row”.
I did ask if they had encountered people that were not doing things right and they answered “too often”. Good times
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